An empty school can be a wonderful thing.  Quiet, nobody interrupting me, and I can talk to myself and nobody is there to wonder if I’m slightly crazy.  So this afternoon, I decide to work at school because I no longer have a student teacher and I actually have to create lesson plans.  There were storm clouds in the distance and we were under a watch but I wouldn’t be gone that long.

The lesson plans were finished and I was entering grades when the sirens started.  Seriously?  I check the weather on the laptop and all it says is Severe Thunderstorm Warning.  So I call home.  No answer – my better half is taking a nap of course.  Finally I get word that it’s a Tornado Warning and I’m at school.  Well, what would I normally do?  I would go to the band room.  So I grab my stuff and go next door to the smaller room and get under the desk.  My first thought was, I wonder if I can get back up?  It’s a legitimate question.  My knees don’t cooperate like they used to which is why I don’t get on the floor with Kinders anymore.  I could see the headlines – Music Teacher Gets Stuck Under Desk During Tornado.  It’s Lincoln after all. Could be embarrassing.

But go under the desk I did for a little while, still searching the web for more details.  Then the lights went out.  The question was, had I been too still for too long and the sensor just missed me or did we lose power?  I would have to get up from under the desk to see.  So…..let’s just say it took longer than it should have and it was not pretty but once the sensor saw me, the lights came back on.  This is why I like to go to school when nobody else is around.

The noise on the roof was ridiculous and my only thought was for my little humbrd, sitting out beside the building.  I parked it as close as I could to the building in the loading dock and hoped it would shield it in case of hail.  Pretty sure I was more concerned for my car than I was for myself.  Good news – no hail damage! In the meantime, I find out that my better half, the one who might have slept through the whole thing, was having a tornado watch party in the underground garage with the rest of our neighbors, peeking out the doors just to see what was up.  It was the perfect introvert/extrovert scenario.  I was alone and he was with his people.

Today we were fortunate.  To see the swirling storm on the radar was pretty surreal and we’re lucky it wasn’t any worse.  I have lived in Nebraska for almost 20 years now and I have yet to see a tornado and I’m ok with that.  Hopefully our tornado season won’t be as intense as our winter was.  Otherwise I might have to get used to doing things like hiding under desks.