Only 10 minutes left

You know if your phone rings at 4:57 a.m., it is rarely a good thing.

Well, this morning my phone rang at 4:57 a.m.

It was my neighbor Kirk, calling to warn me that according to our local news affiliates, a tornado was a'coming. It was scheduled to hit our city at 5:07 a.m., so I had 10 minutes. Since we have already had some pretty bad tornadoes that hit the nearby downtown Atlanta area earlier this year, I took the call pretty seriously.

So - what to do in those 10 minutes?

Well, I got up out of bed. This was especially painful since I couldn't fall asleep last night and therefore I was up cleaning the house until 3:30 a.m. So great, my clean house is going to get blown away, and no one will ever believe that it really had been clean at least once.

First thing out of bed, I decided that I better go to the restroom, cause you wouldn't want that urge to strike just as the tornado did, as who wants to be swept away like Dorothy while sitting on the turlet? After that, I threw on some jeans and a sweater over my nightgown, grabbed a pair of socks that I don't like (and therefore don't mind ruining) and my Crocs, pocketed my cash, credit cards, cell phone, camera and car keys, and moved to the middle of the house, and away from the windows.

And then I started thinking about what else I might want to save in the event that the house blew away in the next 8 minutes. So, I went back and got my passport (so I wouldn't have to go through the drama of replacing it) and my grandmother's engagement ring. After that, I figured that Mom had copies of all the old family photos that I cherish, and everything else is easily replaceable with insurance money. So, with 6 minutes left, I went back to the middle of the house, and away from the windows.

Then I got thirsty. Luckily, the kitchen is close to the middle of the house. So I made a Diet Coke. Don't worry - I put it in a plastic cup. Then I went back to the middle of the house, and away from the windows.

As I waited it out, I debated calling my parents and/or my brother. But then I figured that if the storm was within 4 minutes of hitting my house, it had already passed their houses and they were all probably safe and sound and asleep. And would be mad if I woke them up at 5:03 a.m. on a weekend.

At 3 minutes til, I had to use the bathroom again. But I decided to hold it (although, the chances were high that if the storm really hit my house, it wouldn't matter anyway.)

With 2 minutes left, the curiosity in my soul got the better of me and I had to know what was happening, so I moved away from the middle of the house, and toward the big front windows.

I have two tall trees in my front yard. One is alive and well, the other is dead and has an appointment with a tree cutting service for the week after next. So of course, the healthy tree is bent over the power lines, looking as if it will snap in half at any moment and dropping small branches all over the place. Meanwhile, dead tree is standing firm.

At 1 minute til, the wind started howling, the hail started coming down and everything (except dead tree - still firm) began leaning to the left at a 45 degree angle. So I quickly moved back to the middle of the house, and away from the windows, with my Diet Coke in a plastic cup and very full and heavy pockets. (It is nice to know that the knee will work when it really needs to.)

After that, it all passed pretty quickly. I was fortunate enough that the only impact seems to be a few small tree branches scattered on the street, lots of little leaf clusters in the driveway, and a good, thorough watering of the new azaleas we planted this past week.

Of course, now I'm wide awake again.