I had forgotten what it's like around here during tornado season. Last year's tornado season was relatively mild, but so far, this year's has had a ton of activity. Lots of things remind me of home, and reinforce my connection to this place, and as odd as it might sound to a non-Okie, all this tornado activity does. Going out to watch the storms...listening to the weather radio and the strangely-comforting robotic voice of the National Weather Service...following all the storm coverage with the local weathermen, through their preemption of all types of programming. Oh yes...when we have storms here, if you like network TV, you don't get to see anything except storm coverage. As Brian over at Rockwood pointed out last week, it's like true reality TV, only much more serious. An Okie's relationship to the weather this time of year is very much love/hate, just another part of our identity as born-and-bred Oklahomans. We even joke about it.
Plus, weather is...you know, interesting. It provides some redirection from all the other junk going on. And since weather is such a huge part of our lives here in the spring and early summer in Oklahoma, and since we've got incredible meteorologists here who convey good information to us, most Okies can actually talk fairly intelligently about weather as it's going on. Even Heidi is getting into it, and she's not much of a bad-weather person. Me, I love storms, and always have. But Heidi is still adjusting.On the other hand, Donovan, who is normally terrified of storms, got excited (in a good way) and spent nearly two hours watching the tornado coverage on TV the other night. He knows what a wall cloud is by sight now. He asks me engaging questions about it. We haven't yet gotten to the point of watching Twister with him, but slowly, he is converting to his new home. I hope that trend continues.
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