Stormy Weather

As many of you know, the weather has been out of control lately. Not just in Omaha, but everywhere. It has been a record-breaking season for tornadoes in the US. Scary stuff... Well, on Wed. night, we were lucky enough to experience some of this out-of-control weather. I guess we have actually been experiencing tornadic weather on and off for a couple of weeks now, but Wed. was the worst of it for us so far. The evening started out with relatively clear skies and a new episode of "So You Think You Can Dance" which Ryan and I were anxiously awaiting. To our utter disappointment, we found that our favorite show was being replaced with a continuous weather report. I remember feeling really annoyed that I wasn't going to get to watch my show. This was, after all, the 3rd or 4th week in a row that I missed parts of my show due to weather reports, most of which weren't even relevant to us- and this time I was going to be forced to miss the entire thing! In retrospect, I realize that it was silly (not to mention selfish) of me to be upset about something that was only trying to keep me safe. After all, this "annoying" weather report is what let us know that we would soon be facing a severe storm, despite the deceiving clear skies. The more I listened to the report, the more nervous I became. Of course, Ryan seemed not to be phased by the information, even when the weatherman suggested that we take cover in the basement. We live in a second-story apartment with no basement so once I heard that, I was ready to get out of there! I decided to have Ryan call some neighbors that have a house (the Tyrrells) to see if it would be okay if we came over. They were more than happy to have us so Ryan, Misha, and I walked as quickly as we could over to their house (bringing some left-over cheesecake along to share). We arrived at their house just on time; it started pouring down rain just after we got there and shortly after began to hail. It was amazing how the skies went from blue to a greenish-black in just a matter of minutes. The thunder and wind were incredibly loud and the lightning looked as if it were no further than a few houses away. It was pretty scary, but luckily there was no tornado to be seen. The tornado warning for our area eventually expired after an hour or two and we were able to get out of the basement. Since it was still pouring outside, we were invited to hang out until it stopped, so we had some dessert, played a game called Settlers, and just enjoyed each other's company. We stayed until after midnight that night without even realizing it- and that's saying something b/c Ryan and I have a hard time staying awake past ten most nights! Who'd have thought that such a scary storm could have brought us such a fantastic evening? Well, to end this post, we just want to express our deepest appreciation for Rob and Jill and the rest of their family. They are such wonderful people and we are so lucky to have them as friends. We continue to be very thankful for their willingness to open their home to us on Wednesday. Hopefully someday we'll be able to return the favor.