The Storm

As most of you realize, St. Louis is now a disaster area. Wednesday night we got pounded by thunderstorms and tornadoes, knocking over 500,000 homes off the electrical grid.

I was out in the county at a meeting, but we got kicked out after the power shut off at the facility. Now, I'm horrible at math, but I calculated my chances of traveling home on the highway unscathed.

Storm in Eureka (traveling SE in my direction) X 4 miles to the interchange going 80 mph = Yeah, I can probably make it (again, my calculations are imprecise)

I began the race to the ramp, bright orange sky to my left, dark and lightening to my right...drive, drive, drive. I began anticipating The Boyfriend's lecture when I drove up. "Why would you think it's safe for you to race a storm with 85 mph winds?" I had my rebuttal all but perfected, "Because you left your cell phone in the car and I was concerned you couldn't call for help if a tree fell on you." It was a little off topic, but distracting enough to take the spotlight off me and my questionable judgement.

My hairs felt on end on the back of my neck, my adrenaline pumping...just a few more miles...scary lighting...winds...whoa - TREE!

I made it home.

The Boyfriend was sitting on the front porch watching the bolts spread like spindly fingers across the stormy sky. Instead of a lecture, he smiled, gave me a hug, and told me he was so glad I was home. Even big strong scientists like a little company during the apocalypse.

The power in the whole neighborhood was out, but the weather had cooled, so the evening was pretty enjoyable. We lit candles, played cards, read our books, and slept.

It had been an exciting, yet serene evening. We'd assess what hand we'd been dealt by the storm in the morning.

(The photos above were taken the night of the storm and posted on the stltoday.com news site. The top one was taken in my neighborhood, the bottom from Westport, which is in the county.)