Ep 37: The Son Also Worries

Mom's texted photo of her giant showboat cocktail, 

evidence that she would be even less anxious to get to a shelter, 

did not reassure me.

Tuesday, May 21

Milo continues to teeth, so I was up at 2:45 for an hour trying to sooth him. Poor Chelsea had to leave at 4 for work this morning, so she barely got five hours of sleep, if that, considering Olivia has been kicking and hiccuping a lot more lately.

When I arrived to the track around 7:45 there was barely a soul, maybe half a dozen, waiting on the platform. This was in stark contrast to the 7:32, which always has dozens upon dozens already waiting by 7:20 or so.

At 7:50 the droves descended upon the surrounding parking lots and the drones finally filed in. The mass entry was like a refugee scene from an apocalypse or pandemic film; or rather, more like a zombie movie.

The rush of the AC helped mute the distant chatting of three women at the front of the car, so the ride was fairly tranquil. With the haze of a hot day in the making hanging over the Hudson, the ride in was also uneventful - no derailings, no tornados.

Alas, looming disaster is not too far away considering Mom is on vacation in Branson, Missouri this week. The weather channel warns "Tornado Risk Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri," with severe thunderstorms likely to hit this area on Wednesday.

At first chance I texted Mom and asked her to find the nearest shelter. She informed me that she was on a show boat on the Swanee River somewhere.

I promptly replied, "Please stay safe Mom. I know showboats don't have shelters. Remember, The Wizard of Oz was just a movie, and Dorothy was simply dreaming, whereas tornados are all too real."

She reassured me that after the show she was going straight back to her condo at the timeshare complex and that she now knows where the shelter is.

Hmmm, her casual, unconcerned reply was not that helpful. I still worried and wondered if she would actually make the effort to go to the shelter at the first sign of a twister.

Ugh, oh the worries of a doting son.