As Seen on CNN

Our lovely little corner of Earth was jolted from its 75-degree balmy slumber yesterday by tornadoes and "cloud walls" and "straight winds," but we are all fine and dandy, so thanks to all of you who have called, sent text messages and emails.

According to many (myself included), this was the scariest looking storm "ever" in Memphis, and we are no strangers to stormy weather. Out one window, sunny and lovely; out the other, black as night with clouds that seemed to touch the earth (and did in some places).

It was pretty frightening in the area where we live and definitely in the town where I work (Jackson), where the brunt of the storms hit. All evening yesterday and all day today, the 24-hour news networks were chock full of images from little ol' Jackson and the mess that was formerly known as the Union University campus. Dorms collapsed, students were trapped, etc. Miraculously, no one there was killed and only a very few were hurt to any serious degree. I was at the hospital there in Jackson, and caught a pretty little red-headed baby named Chloe to the magical sound of sirens and hospital loud-speakers announcing the "CODE D" (for "disaster"). I guess the toughest part was being separated from the rest of my little family. They were hunkered down in the bathroom first, the closet second, as a tornado touched down less than a mile away from our house. It ripped a roof off, depositing it pretty much intact right in the middle of the road.

Peter reports that the girls were well-prepared, from school drills, I suppose. Molly calmly informed Daddy that they needed to get in the tub and have a mattress over their heads. Rebecca showed him how they should protect their heads and sit "criss-cross applesauce" (known in the less PC days as "Indian-style"). When they were in the tub, however, Rebecca did get pretty anxious and scared & started to cry. Amelia also was not in the best of spirits. So they transferred to our closet and took a few toys and games and the Boppy pillow for Amelia. All's well that ends well, and Rebecca is excitedly reporting that "God held our house down with a big hand" so it wouldn't blow away like Dorothy's house in Wizard of Oz.

Of course, not everyone was as lucky as we were. One nurse from my unit lost her entire house, opening her closet door to nothing but rubble and her sun porch. I have already mentioned the Union community. The other Jackson-area hospital suffered significant damage to the medical buildings. As I drove home this morning after my 24-hr shift, I saw mangled semi trucks on the Interstate, trees pulled out down to the roots and upside down along the side of the road, dozens of them flattened like matchsticks, billboards snapped in half. And last I heard, there were about 50 deaths in this area. How lucky we are.