A Scary Night.

Tonight... has been very frightening.

Daddy sent me a text around 7 this evening. "The boss made a scheduling error. I will be at work until 11:30 or later." I made a pseudo dinner of oven-baked cheesesticks and curled up on the living room floor to watch a marathon of one of my favorite shows, Mythbusters. I started a load of laundry, and settled in for a relatively boring evening.

Finally around 10:30, I decided to go up to my room to go to bed. As I was putting my clothing away, my television broadcast a text message across the screen: "Please tune to Channel 5 for emergency information."

It had been completely quiet all evening, so I was a little bit surprised. I turned to channel 5 -- The Weather Channel -- to be met with a tornado warning message for a county nearby. I quickly logged my National Weather Service link on, and watched with fright at the storm track pointed it straight towards Columbus.

I texted Daddy, warning him of the situation, dressed myself, and moved downstairs. I proceeded to watch the local weather broadcasting while occasionally updating my NWS page. I started calling Mama, as I was beginning to get jittery. She didn't answer her phone.

At 11:00, the sirens started going off. I was alone.

I texted Shelby and asked her to call me, as I knew that listening to another person's voice would help to keep me calm. As she and I proceeded to chat, the storm began taking on a very frightening signature of a tornado. The storm track took it right over Columbus. Then, at 11:30, the worst thing that could ever happen.

"A tornado is on the ground, and we've been told to take cover. We will be back on the air as soon as we can." The station went off the air. The station is located just around the corner from my house.

For a split second, my heart stopped, and I could've fallen dead on the spot. I walked shakily into the "cubby" (a place in the center of our house with no windows -- our safest place) and realized my worst fear: I was facing a tornado, alone. I listened for the roaring sound that they always talk about. Instead, all the rain stopped, and it was completely still and silent. I sat in the cubby and waited, listening to Shelby as she continued to tell me, "You're going to be okay. Listen to this..."

Ten minutes passed, and I wandered back into the living room. The local news station was back on the air, and everything was strangely quiet. The damage reports were coming in. "The tornado touched down and caused significant damage near Exit 6."

My house is located on Exit 7, which is maybe 5 miles from Exit 6.

There is damage all around the area near my house. Power is out in those areas. My house is untouched and we are with power. As I was coming to terms with the facts that the tornado "skipped" over my neighborhood and spared my house, Daddy got home. He actually drove through it on his way home.

I've been through several tornadoes and natural disasters in my life... but this was my first one that I went through solo.

I'm sitting here now shaking and feeling surreal...

It's been a scary night.

And there's another line of storms coming in within an hour or so.