Preparing for the Storm: Taking it Serious

I'm a planner by nature. In fact, as a child, I usually planned my next year's birthday party shortly after the conclusion of the current one. Guess I might be a birthday girl, but I love to plan ahead.

Living in the Midwest you get accustomed to preparing for storms. With the potential for large amounts of snow, winter storms require planning so that you have plenty of food, milk ,and of course, Reddi Whip ready for hot cocoa emergencies. Spring Storms mean you need to have a tornado basket ready with flashlights, batteries for a radio, and blankets for protection and comfort.

Having survived a tornado as a child, I don't really mess around with Watches, Warnings or Weather Threats. I've seen close up what a tornado can do. It destroyed my house while my mother and I were at a Girl Scout Meeting at the Elementary School a few blocks from our house and my father and brother were huddled up under a chair in our basement.

I was a 2nd Grade Brownie Girl Scout and my mother was the Leader. It was right after school on a clear May afternoon. There was no time to think about what to do. My father, in an attempt to come to the school to bring us home, had seen our neighbors roof fly off their house and he quickly decided to stay home.

My mother, the ever prepared GS Leader, happened to have a flashlight in her purse and huddled all of us girls in the school hallway between two huge steel doors. I don't remember being scared or nervous; just confident she could handle it. After the storm, the Principal took my mother outside to survey the damage. The neighborhood was destroyed. Many homes were leveled. Amazingly, all the parents arrived to pick up their girls that day. No one had been harmed.

Once everyone had gone "home," my mom and I walked the few blocks to our house. Everywhere, there were houses with roofs gone, windows gone, and debris littered the streets (thus why we walked). We had no idea what we would discover once we got home. My mother prayed that we'd find our house OK, but most of all she prayed that my brother and dad had been spared harm and that we'd find them alive and well. I remember being scared.

When we finally saw our house ahead and my dad and brother standing in our driveway, I'm sure my mother and I both cried. God had protected them and, while our house was "destroyed," our family was intact. Really that was all that mattered.

Since that day in 1975, I've taken Storms seriously. I heed the warnings and take precautions when there is the potential of a storm. I've seen what it can do and, while I'm not afraid, I believe in being prepared. I've been known to grab sleeping babies out of their cribs when the sirens go off. I've told baseball umpires to call games when I've seen dark clouds, strong winds, and lightening nearby. Lastly, I'm training my children to listen for sirens and head downstairs right away. I know the lessons have been heard when last summer, when I was at the store, the sirens went off and Mr C. gathered his sisters and went to the basement,

Last night, we were prepared for the worst. We had our shoes ready at the basement door. I had my purse and my keys to the car sitting there with the camera as I had pictures I'd yet to download. The batteries were in place and we had Mr C's trusty Camp Lantern all ready. The kids had even picked up the basement. It was waiting for us in case we needed it.

Thankfully, it was just a false alarm. The storm passed us by to the North and we didn't even get any rain. I was thankful. Thankful that we were prepared and that we didn't need to put our storm plan into action.

However this morning when I realized that the "no storm" meant no rain outs for our concert, softball, baseball, and soccer games I might have felt a little unprepared to leave. All things considered, I'll take a calm night weather wise even if it means a jammed packed morning.

My Life As I Recall: College Summer Job

My kids think that all I've ever been or done is be a stay at home mom. When C was little, I used to manage a small Christian bookstore run in our church. By the time M was in preschool, I decided that "part-time" and "managing" did not really work for our family or the store so I decided to forgo my "paying" job and stay home full time.

While I've never regretted the decision, I sometimes feel as if my kids are missing out on knowing a real part of me as a working, career woman.

As a way to keep the memories of my days among the employed fresh in my memory I thought I'd from time to time write down a few of my funniest, toughest and most interesting days out "there"in the world. I'm calling this My Life As I Recall....

Hey, I've had some interesting jobs. I've been to some very interesting places and, while I never really climbed the career ladder, I've certainly been in/or near some places of power. Along the way, I've been run over by a car, driven some very influential people around the state, sat in on some high powered meetings, and attended some neat events.

In my "former life" I've had jobs as a Senator's Wife's Driver and Aide, Personal Aide to a Governor, Runner in a Law firm, Fundraiser for a Non Profit, Christian Bookstore Worker and Manager, Popcorn Shop Worker, Nanny, Insurance Office Guru, Scheduler for a Senatorial Candidate, and a few more. I've seen the world of Republican politics in my state from so many different levels and, while I wish that my candidates had made it to Washington, one did make it to the Governor's Mansion and the others made a big impact on our state/country in many other ways. Someday, I might return to that life or watch it again close up. For now, however, I just go by mom.

Take 1: Summer Jobs in College

I was blessed not to have to have a job during the school year throughout most of my undergraduate years. My job according to my parents was school. However, it was expected that during the summer I would get a job and work either full or part time to gain experience and some money for the upcoming school year.

Following my freshman year, I came home for the summer and got a job for our county working in the Assessor's office downtown. My best friend's dad was the County Assessor at the time and, while she spent the summer working at the local Water Slide Park, I was working full time in an office in the auto tax division. I spent my summer alphabetizing car registrations. All summer long from 9 a.m to 5:00 p.m. with an hour for lunch and two 15 minute breaks a day, I alphabetized.

Needless to say, my little 19 year old self was the youngest in the office by decades and they were not thrilled with how quickly I was working.

To pass the time, I would go over to the courthouse on breaks and lunch to sit in on trials. I became good friends with the court administrator for various judges and they would call me when they had "good trials" to watch or when juries were coming back with a verdict. I decided that summer that I was going to Law School and would be like one of my heroes on LA Law with the swanky suits and challenging cases.

Two big lessons I learned that summer: (1) Stay in College, you don't want a job alphabetizing for the rest of your life. (2) Making friends with the people you work around makes your life much easier. By the end of the summer, I was allowed to work my breaks around court cases, I could take an early lunch to see a prisoner come into the courthouse all because I made friends with the right people and they got a kick out of watching my young self get so involved in the goings on in the courthouse. When I left for school in the fall, I had gotten two of the other workers hooked on the courthouse and they were reading murder mystery books and legal dramas, too!!

Hope you enjoy this look back. Next installment: The Political Bug Bites