The Thrill of the Chase

Last night as we emerged from the movie theatre a dark ominous cloud hovered in the distance and the wind blew at a brisk speed. I could instantly sense my hubbys heart go pitter patter, he was ready for a chase.

The hubs has many a passions; his wife, his kids, all things Sci Fi, his Cougar, and the weather. The weather is probably one of his most beloved passions besides me and the kids of course. C. was fortunate to be an Okie where all types of weather is formed the most dangerous being those pesky tornadoes. He joined the Air Force to study weather and enjoyed having the type of power to tell a general he could not fly a plane due to severe weather conditions. After getting out of the Air Force he did the weather for the college closed circuit T.V. and then went on to bigger and better things like working for the king of all weather men Mr. Gary England himself. If your not from the great state of OK then you wouldn't understand, but just leave it at that Gary is king in Oklahoma. So the hubs knows his weather and was taught by the best of them.

When I was barely pregnant with Gameboy and we were still living in OK, hubs took me out on a chase. At this point in time I was sick as a dog with morning sickness so I was not the best participant in this particular chase. I kept informing my darling husband that this momma needed something to eat or ice to chew on or something cause I was going to be sick. You must understand how passionate the hubs is with his tornadoes. Stopping for anything else besides the tornado is grounds for a beating. Maybe not quite a beating but alteast a sharp "Can't you wait?" He didn't understand the qualms of morning/all day sickness. So there we were pulled over only for said tornado as he's telling me "Look honey look at it, isn't beautiful." Oh I looked at it in between purging into the cup I just happened to have on hand. So I knew for a fact he had a passion.

Fast forward May 3rd 1999 a day most Okies will not forget. One of the largest and strongest tornadoes to hit the metro area. All day long watches and warnings covered most of the state. Gary was most Okies salvation that night. The hub's had a major itching and I knew he had to go chase the beasts. I don't think we both realized how serious things were going to be that night but he left me, Gameboy and the dog alone thinking we'd be best off at home. I had Gary blasting and his projections gave me a time line of when the tornado was to come. I started getting really nervous for C. I knew he knew what he was doing, but the way Gary sounded things were not good out there. I just wanted my hubby safe at home. When Gary started mentioning my little town, I knew it was time to get ready. I had my one month old baby sound asleep in my arms as we huddled in the closet with the baby mattress over us. The dog was beside us whimpering. She knew something was up. Lucky for us we never lost power and the tornado passed within 3 miles of the house. Hubs came just in the nick of time and rounded us up in the truck and we drove around making sure friends and family were all safe. Fortunately everyone was ok and no damage done. Not so fortunate for so many others.

May 3rd changed our lives in more than one. Hubby started doing work with the major insurance companies assessing the damage and helping people getting on with their lives. That brought us where we are now in Tx. Although the storms here in East Texas are nil compared to OK storms, C. blames the tall pine trees. But when hubs sees a storm a looming he longs for that thrill of the chase once more.