The Tornado Nightmare: Relived.

My sister and I have many horrible, vivid childhood memories of being woken up in the middle of the night by our parents, racing downstairs and being locked in our laundry room because our town was being ripped to shreds by tornados. We lived in tornado alley in Texas, and I don't think my mind will ever erase the noises that we heard, the pounding rain, the whooshing winds, and of course the fear that this instilled in us. To this day I have the same recurring nightmare once or twice a year of me looking out my window and being surrounded by dozens of tornados. (No that never happened, never saw more than one at a time, but the nightmare is still there.) So you can imagine my relief over the past several years living in Colorado, that I haven't had to relive that terrible memory....until this week.

The weather has been pretty unpredictable these past few days, and rumors of tornados down in the tech center had me on high alert...but I didn't really think they would happen in my town, not to me! The memories still make my skin crawl. So needless to say, my eyes have been on the skies, looking for any sign of green...and finally, yesterday, just blocks away:

Ugh! The sight is beautiful, don't get me wrong. I've always thought that tornados were one of nature's most beautiful anamolies. But when you've seen the catastrophe that it can create, and it is real to you because you've experienced it, that fear never goes away.

Adams county has been under tornado warning off and on for days now, and just minutes ago there was another sighting...so we are under warning again. I'm so excited. Feel the enthusiasm.