My husband asked me today if I had a Weather Channel addiction? I do. Does anyone else have this problem? With all the recent bad storms, I find myself glued to the Weather Channel, as if my knowing or not knowing what's going on elsewhere makes any difference.
I check our weather only occasionally as we don't often have really scary weather. We have plenty of cold and wind, annoying weather but not usually frightening. However, I know and love people in other parts of the country.
Of course I have to check on weather in North Carolina as one of my "chicks" lives there now. If I hear of bad weather there I try to make sure Ben and Sara are aware of it. I'm pretty sure Sara keeps up with weather warnings, and I am grateful for that, but I doubt that Ben does, certainly not with the level of obsession that I manage on their behalf!
We've got friends and relatives in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. They seem like pretty innocent states but they are quite capable of nasty weather! We experienced plenty of that ourselves when we lived in Minnesota, even saw a tornado or two. So, I continue to monitor the Weather Channel on their behalf.
Montana isn't so tornado prone but lately they've had a lot of flooding. The Weather Channel hasn't been making much note of that but I thank Facebook friends for making sure I have access to the data necessary to feed my worries.
We have friends in Missouri. They've been affected by tornadoes in the past so I monitor the news, hoping not to hear the name of their town. So far this year I have not.
And now, I have someone that I care about in Oklahoma City. Emily, who just spent this last week-end here with Maria and Eric, almost immediately felt like family. I should have considered her location of origin before I got to know her! She left here and went directly into the danger zone and I expanded my worry duties. It is exhausting. I really need to save my affections for people who live in states that are boring by Weather Channel standards. Too late in this case.
I admit that part of the problem is that weather is just so interesting to me! Oh boy, now I really AM sounding old. It's true, though. I've watched the clip over and over of an entire power pole floating through the air, rising up and over the storm chaser who provided the film. That is scary and I wonder about the sanity of the storm chaser, but it is also fascinating. There is such power there!
But then, when I see news of the aftermath, the lives disrupted, the property damaged, and it is too much... too much pain, too much horror, too much sadness. I have a pretty good imagination but I don't think I can adequately imagine what it would be like to have my home destroyed and then have to pick through the rubble for missing family members. What it must be like to look around my town and find 75% of it destroyed. It's too much!
So, I admit to my miserable fascination with storms. I can't hardly tear myself away from the television when things fire up. I follow all that with feeling shame for my fascination with these storms, disappointed in myself when I worry, wondering if that is just a sign of weak faith.
Is anyone else dealing with these kinds of obsessions and worries? It's not just me, is it?
