Tornado in the 'Couv? Stranger than Fiction!

So, today started out like any other. Lilah woke up at 6:30 (ugh!! we need to work on her wake-up time!), she and I went to the gym, and then we met Nick for coffee at our favorite coffee shop, where the employees owed and ahhed over Lilah.

After L and I arrived home, I noticed the sky over our neighborhood was getting dark. I took a shower and checked outside again. (Yes, I was covered in case you were wondering) The sky was darker this time -- a weird dark bluish-purple. I moved Lilah to the bedroom with me and as I was getting dressed, I started hearing sounds like a truck being unloaded, or like construction on our street. I was couldn't quite figure out what the sound was (never figuring it would be , a, oh, a tornado passing over the house ... let's say) Almost immediately afterward it started thundering like crazy. Simon and Sophie both became quite agitated, running nervously around the house. (In hindsight, the fact that our cat was moving about should have been an indicator to me that something was drastically wrong....)

The thunder lasted about five minutes, with one thunder clap starting almost instantly after another ended. I prepared Lilah's bottle, flipped on the news, and as I began to feed her the weather alert test flashed on the TV. It was quickly replaced with a real weather alert -- a tornado had touched down on 53rd and St. Johns, right in our neck of the woods. (Keep in mind we live on 45th) The storm had moved in from west of I-5 and originated from downtown Vancouver, ( we are about 20 blocks from downtown) The storm cloud had literally gone straight over our house, covering our neighbhoord in a triangle moving northeast over us.

And all this time I was calmly showering and casually wondering why the sky looked so funny.

I spent the next hour glued to the television, worriedly watching the sky, and listening to stories of true loss and heroism emerge from the TV. (There's sarcasm there in case you didn't read that one correctly.) But, I will admit, I was pretty close to losing my cool. I was pretty freaked out -- here a tornado passed over my daughter and me, and I was clueless the whole time. Would I be clueless if another one came and hit us? Would another one come? Should I run for safety and wish Simon and Sophie the best of luck?

I rarely get so scared or worried about something that I am at a loss as to what to do. I'm usually a calm person, especially in chaos. (Look at my job at LOH) I have been complimented by several people on how calm I am. (To my sisters -- I know what you're thinking and knock it off!!) But today I debated on calling Nick to beg him to come home and hiding in our cell. In the end, I strapped Lilah on me and paced nervously around the house.

It hailed and poured, the tornado warning was replaced by a severe thunderstorm warning, more funnel clouds were spotted but none touched down, and eventually the sky began to clear. I listened to the news helicopters circling our house, and as the pictures of the tornado's damage began airing on TV, I started counting my blessings that our house had not received any damage, and my little family is all safe and sound.