Hoosiers Ate My Brain

Big Weather

"Life is a tornado watch. You can hunker down in the basement or get up on the roof, let the wind give you rock star hair and yell, 'I knew you were coming! That's why I didn't rake the leaves!'"

This past week, I've been reading Big Weather: Chasing Tornadoes in the Heart of America, Mark Svenvold's new book on tornados, weather in the plains states, meteorology science, and the geekiness of storm chasing. The author started the book when he was caught outside Oklahoma City during what we Oklahomans call a fairly routine storm. He continued to study tornadoes and chase during May of 2003, which from a tornado perspective, turned out to be a bit more busy than the routine spring. It's not the best-written book I've ever read, but it still fits the bill.

Big weather is pretty awe-inspiring and has been the theme of my life lately. We don't have enough of it here in Indiana. And I certainly don't have enough in my life, metaphorically speaking. We all know people who create artificial big weather around them all the time. Their lives are filled with drama, stress, fear, and chaos. But that's not real big weather. That's just an ongoing level of small, crappy weather all the time. Crazy out-of-control lives are really like, say, living in Seattle: continuous rain 9 months out of the year and a few big storms.

No, I like the awesome, natural big weather. Supercells that spring up out of a clear blue day producing real meso-cyclonic action. But in real life, tornadoes don't happen that often, and when they do, they're often unexpected and unpleasant. In the past couple of months, there's been a metaphorical storm in my life brewing up all sorts of interesting thoughts, ideas and excitement. And last week it feels like a tornado has run right down the Main Street in my small town of a life, sweeping out the old and leaving only the foundations. And it feels so good. It feels clean. Stretching out and doing what I've been ready to do for a long time feels good. It's my life today! And tomorrow, I hope! These days, I'm the one with the rock star hair sitting on the roof of the house during the tornado watch saying "Bring it a on! Bring it all on!"

posted by braingirl @ 8:10 AM