[McheleM]

I also remember when my ex husband was in the navy and was out on a 6 month tour, I was home alone with my 8 month old daughter, living in Virginia and hurricane Bob came close. A lot of the locals weren't doing anything, but me, having never been in a hurricane before, stocked up on water and flashlights and batteries and canned food, etc. I was appalled that people were throwing hurricane parties!! They weren't calling for evacuations, or even saying it was going to hit near us, I think it hit Rhode Island, but I was hunkered down in the hallway with all my stuff and my little girl, ready to ride it out lol. And for the record, if the weatherman even says the word "tornado", I run for the bathroom and hunker down with the dogs. Last year, a tornado swept through the outskirts of mesquite and my son's school kept them past the let out time. They moved them all to the hallway and he asked a teacher why- she explained about the tornado and he told her "I know its against school rules, but is really need to call my mom-she's terrified of tornadoes". She let him and my phone rings and the conversations goes something like this:
"Hello"
"Hey mom, it's Ryan. Are you okay?"
"Yes"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. No. Maybe"
"Are you at home?"
"Yeah"
"Are you in the bathroom?"
"Yeah"
"How long have you been in there?"
"Since 12:30 when the winds started blowing really hard and the weatherman said there was a tornado watch in Cleburne"
"Mom, cleburne is 85 miles west of us and its 4:30"
"I know, but the wind was blowing north east and it doesn't take long for tornadoes to travel. I was being cautious"
"Okay, are the dogs oaky?"
"Yeah, but they're tired of being in the bathroom"
"Yeah you should probably let them out for a little bit"
"What if the tornado comes and they're in the dining room pottying and it rips the roof off the house and takes them up into the funnel cloud and I'll never see them again, and it will be all my fault because I came out of the bathroom?"
"Mom, one day you're going to have to get over this irrational weather fear, you do realize this, right?"
"Yeah, one day"
Needless to say I was still in the bathroom when he got home at 5:30. And at 3:40, a tornado did touch down in mesquite and obliterated a kiwi car oil change. But yeah, tornados and alligators/crocodiles are my undoing lol.