Hanging out in the storm

 

 Turns out there was no place for it in the text but here's another video you should watch.

 Another "being home is weird" thought— I have not really experienced such extreme weather in a long time. The coasts have proven to be safer than I thought, and while away I was always asked about tornadoes, since they are what my state is famous for. To be very honest, if you look at a map of Tornado Alley's range, you'll find my hometown lies outside of it. From my own childhood I only remember treacherous-looking (emphasis on looking) dust devils, which were only harmful in that it could get dirt in your eyes. I nearly lived in the arena of Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner, an old road inscribed in red dirt, a runway only for a small twister. When I lived in the "city" for high school, my sister and I lived in a house with a built-in shelter. There weren't much of those growing up, but they are vital in the center of the state. A big YouTuber made a video where he described something that seemed like a foreboding flavor of serendipity, a curse, on the city of Moore. Our house in Oklahoma City is just north of this town, where rent is low and the loss rings still. I read natural disaster books all my childhood. My only two fears were the ghost of Michael Jackson and the Halifax explosion in 1917, though tornadoes always loomed in the back. It was the only thing that could really come get me. In April when my relationship was really new and my sisters were running a half-marathon, the tornadoes were bad in a record-breaking way. Fifty tornadoes touched down over the weekend, a gust brushing every inch of the state.