Daily Work: In the Dark

Okay, yes, I frequently retreat to the darkness of my bedroom; but that didn’t mean that I wanted to go 15 hours without electricity. And, yes, tornados freak me out; but that didn’t mean that I wanted to sleep through the tornado warning last night that sent all my colleagues to their basements and bathtubs. Somehow, last night, despite sirens and cell phone messages, I slept through the two tornado warnings and hurricane-strength straight-line winds that wreaked havoc through Champaign. I still don’t know why my weather radio didn’t go off. And I didn’t know what was really happening until 8 this morning. I went to bed for a nap at 6 or so last night. When I woke up at 9:30, it was all over. I just didn’t know any of it had happened. I came out to the living room to watch tv and fiddle about. Within about 5 minutes, the cable went out. I noticed big trucks down the street, and didn’t think anything of it. I turned on a tivoed movie. Ten minutes later the power went out. It didn’t come back till 12:45 today. Fortunately I have a gas stove and hot water heater. Otherwise, I would have lost my mind fully. Instead, I didn’t even find out about the tornado warnings till I flipped open my cell phone at 11:15 and saw the text messages. When I go to hide in the dark, this isn’t quite what I had in mind.