Panic!

I pride myself on being a calm person in general. In an emergency situation, I generally remain in control of my emotions and don't panic. Of course, I did add the caveat "in general."

You know how every other cheesy movie has a character who has a repressed memory or some awful childhood memory that makes them do strange things. Well, tonite I starred in my own cheesy movie "When Good Weather Goes Bad."

See, it all started when I was about 3 years old. One night, some really bad storms blew through Austin including some with really large hail. I understand it sounded like a freight train coming. I vaguely recall laying in the hallway, with my pillow over my head and my mother covering me with her body. It tore up roofs and, if you were so unfortunate as to have windows facing the direction the storm came from, broke a lot of windows.

Needless to say I do not like hail. Actually, that is a little bit of an understatement. Hail completely unnerves me and I freak out, even lose control a little bit. I can hear the very first piece of hail hit the ceiling. As a child, many times the first indication my parents had of a hail storm at night was me crawling into bed with them.

So tonite, I was upstairs talking to Adam. I step out of his office and notice that it has started raining. No problem. I walk down the hall, check on Andrew and then hear thunder and see lightning. Again, no problem. I walk down the stairs to check radar and just as I step onto the tile floor, I hear hail. Big problem. I momentarily lose complete control. I yell out for Adam with a note of panic in my voice. He comes racing down the stairs asking what is wrong.

"It's hailing."
"It is?"
"YES! Can't you hear it?" (I mean really, is the man deaf?)
"Is it big hail?"
"Well, no, it is actually pretty small." (Probably not even pea size, but it could get bigger at any second.)
"Would you like me to bring Andrew downstairs?" (God bless the man, he knows me inside out.)

Actually yes, but I am trying desperately not to overreact, so no. Nevertheless, I head down the hall to our closet underneath the stairs (it's a walk-in) after telling Adam to check radar. When the house was being built, we identified this closet as the strongest place in the house. Andrew and I spent some time in it last fall when a tornado was reported a couple of miles away (Adam was out of town). It is equipped with old tennis shoes and socks for Adam and I, raincoats for everybody, a wind up radio, a weather alert radio and flashlights. Now that storm season has started, in FEBRUARY for pete's sake, I will add some bottled water and crackers (I am prepared).

Of course, during Christmas it was used for storing presents, empty toy boxes and wrapping paper. So, I go down the hall and immediately start chucking toy boxes out of the closet and into the garage. Got to make sure there is room for me, my child, my husband, and my dog. Boxes are flying left and right. There is no time to waste, I mean it is hailing for heaven's sake.

Once I clear sufficient space, I head back to the family room and discover it has stopped hailing. Emergency over. Crisis averted. Everyone can return to their normal activities.

I might have overreacted...a bit. But don't worry, I will let you know if it starts hailing again.