Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Lilapsophobia

We are in a severe storm warning tonight up here in Minnesota.  The skies are getting dark and the rain is beginning to fall.  It got me to thinking of tonight's blog subject. 

It was late at night, circa August 13th, 1968, when I was tucked in bed in my jammies flat out in dreamland when suddenly I was abruptly awakened by by mom and dad whisked up in my mom's arms as we sped from my bedroom towards the basement.  "What is going on?" I thought still half asleep.  I remember glancing out the dining room window seeing the dancing shadows of trees moving across the window and the sound of a siren wailing in the distance. I remember someone saying a tornado was coming.  My parents, grandparents (who were staying with us at the time), and my brother Paul all hunkered down in the basement.  As we all sat huddled together we listened to the wind whipping outside and fortunately nothing happened to us.  Except one thing,  it turned me into a Lilapsophobic.

Lilapsophobia is a fear of..... you got it, tornadoes. Since that day I am deathly afraid of tornadoes and I still remember that night as if it happened today!

Over the years I've had many dreams of tornadoes.  In most of these dreams, some of which are over 20 years old and I still recall them vividly, there is the biggest tornado ever seen and it is chasing me or someone I care about and just as it's about to catch up to us I wake up!


Whenever I hear sirens, even when they are for tests, I stop whatever I'm doing and look out window.   I've never seen a tornado first hand and I really don't know how I would react if I did (hope to never find out).  Came close a few times.  Once in Illinois the sky was black and green and I'd never seen anything like it. Thought for sure I'd see a funnel cloud but, whew, I didn't. 

I've got many more phobias that I'll share in some future blogs but none as dramatic as this.  Now if you'll excuse me I've got to go keep an eye on the weather. 

Well there you have it, my biggest phobia.  Do you have one  you'd like to share? 

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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 2, 2012 at 6:57 PM

    So, Wizard of Oz won't be on our movie list?

    When I was about 5 or 6 my Mom and I were at the Farmington pool when they told everyone to go home because bad weather was coming. We hightailed it home -- my Mom driving as fast as she ever has (and she drove on the Autobahn). We barely made it in the house before the wind and rain and hail came. It was bad, but we were fine. Our neighbor's shed got taken down and the big grain elevator outside Vermillion was flattened. One time we had straight-line winds hit us and take sheds and the back of the barn. I've always been fascinated by storms.

    Now, mice on the other hand.............

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  2. chico385May 2, 2012 at 7:24 PM

    Wow. That was close. Glad you were both OK.

    Now I remember another story. Back in the day my cousin Mike, had a red Pontiac GTO muscle car. Well, a big storm was coming and he had to fly from my grandma's house in St. Paul to his parent's house in Little Canada (7 miles) to close the windows. He flew like a bat out of heck to get there and I was with him. We were flying. I'll never forget it. And yes, we made it in time to close all the windows n get back b4 the storm hit.

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