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In the aftermath of last week’s terrible storms, my heart goes out to the folks who lost everything. I can’t imagine what it’s like to have your whole house blown away or your loved ones killed.

Hearing the stories, I’ve come to realize that even my idea of “losing everything” is privileged. If I said I lost everything, what I would mean is that all of my previous stuff was gone, but a check was on the way from the insurance company to replace it, probably with better stuff than I had before. Meanwhile, my family would gather around me and move heaven and earth to make sure I was ok and had everything I needed.

For many of people impacted by this storm, there will be no insurance check, because they had no insurance. There will be no family flocking to help, because they have no family or the family can’t help for whatever reason. There may be no paychecks coming any time soon, either, because their employers were destroyed or because they’re paid by the hour and haven’t been working for days while the power has been out.

It’s a terrible situation, and it almost seems disrespectful to write about my experiences this past week when so many have suffered so much. But I think there’s a place on this blog for anything that reminds us of how short life is, so I think it’s worth telling.

The Storm

For me, day 16,603 started with the tornado sirens going off at 6 am. I staggered around the house confused, managed to ascertain that the tornado’s path was nowhere near me, and went back to bed.

I work for a university, and every time a tornado warning is issued or expires for my county, the university emergency response system sends an automated call to my cell phone urging me to take shelter or telling me it’s ok to come out. Over the course of the day, I accumulated 19 of these messages.

One strange thing that made this storm system even worse was that there were many gaps of several hours when it appeared to be over, before it started back up worse than ever. Early in the evening, I called my parents to let them know I was ok, thinking everything was finished, only to find myself later hiding in my interior bathroom with a candle, my boyfriend, and my cat, a rotating wall cloud a few blocks away.

I used to live in the midwest, so storms with tornadoes are not a novelty for me. As a kid, I spent many an hour in school hallways, lined up sitting on the floor, facing the wall with my hands over the back of my head, waiting for a storm to pass or a drill to end. Last week, hiding in the bathroom, I really didn’t expect to die. But I thought about it anyway. What if this was it?

Well, I’d be disappointed to miss out on continuing 17,000 Days. I have so many ideas and great things I want to do!

But am I happy with my life overall? Yes. I’d be sorry not to see my goal through to at least the point where I got to quit my job, but I’ve been doing things I love and working hard on something meaningful. I’ve been doing everything I can to build the best possible life for myself, to use my skills, talents, and passions to their fullest.

For the first time in my life, a disaster doesn’t make me think, “Crap, life is too short! I’ve got to get out of here and quit wasting my time!” (well, except about my day job). It makes me think, “If I have the chance, I want to get back to my great work as soon as possible.”

In the days following the storm, I heard a lot of people refer to it as a wakeup call, a reminder to get their lives on track and start doing what’s important to them. I’m a big believer in learning from others’ experiences rather than having to make your own mistakes or live through your own disasters, so I encourage everyone to use this experience. If today was your last day, would you be satisfied? Would you regret something you were doing or weren’t doing? What can you do today to get your life closer to one you’d be happy with?

The Aftermath

The tornadoes or other strong winds from the storms destroyed all of the transmission lines used to power northern Alabama, as well as over 300 towers used to support the lines (sources: MSN, TVA). That meant the power was out for nearly all of northern Alabama for at least four days. Some people are still without power.

I am truly lucky. In addition to the total lack of damage to anything I own, I was remarkably well set up for a few days without power. Here are a few things I’m greatful for:

• I had a frantic week planned, so I cooked a ton of food over the weekend in preparation. Thus, I had plenty to eat while the power was out.
• I was able to get ice early enough and often enough to keep the food I had from spoiling.
• I had just done laundry, so I had plenty of clean clothes to wear.
• I happened to have some cash on hand, so I could buy stuff (i.e. ice) when nobody was able to process credit cards yet.
• My phone worked the entire time, so I was able to reassure my parents and talk to them. They live far away and still had internet service, so they let everyone else know I was ok.
• I had plenty of gas in the car, and I live within a few miles of half a dozen grocery stores. When they got generators and were able to reopen, it was easy to get to them.
• I had plenty of candles and flashlights for light and plenty of charcoal for cooking.
• I had experienced a 3-day power outage when I lived in the north, so I knew the only thing I really needed was ice to keep the food from going bad. Last week’s power outage was longer, but I didn’t have a foot and a half of snow, cold temperatures, or a basement filling up with water. Pretty easy by comparison.
• We had running water the entire time the power was out.
• I have a gas water heater, so I even had hot water!
• I had a huge stack of books waiting to be read.
• I love staying home for days on end.
• After the storms passed, the weather was absolutely perfect. If this had happened when it was cold or hot out, it could have been very unpleasant.
• At night, it was quiet and perfectly dark. I don’t know when I’ve slept so well, or gotten to bed on time so consistently!
• I got to try out a digital sabbatical like the minimalists are always encouraging us to do. I missed my peeps, but I wasted a lot less time in unending chains of interesting distractions.
• I finally made the vision board I’ve been thinking about for months.
• I’m not the sort of person who gets stir-crazy or bored much. A lot of people had a really hard time dealing with being without electricity and schedules, but I found it peaceful and restorative.

I ended up being without electricity for four days. I really enjoyed the chance to get a lot of rest, read, and let my mind wander. I loved not knowing what time it was and not caring.

I also enjoyed talking to other people I encountered and hearing their stories. I’ve undergone a pretty big mental shift lately with regard to people–enjoying them instead of finding them scary has been a treat. I think I spent 45 minutes gabbing with three guys waiting to buy gas one morning, and I didn’t even buy any gas! Everyone had a story or an interesting perspective, and the shared experience of the storms and power outage erased most of the usual barriers between people. I really enjoyed that.

What surprised me about the whole thing is how much it bothered a lot of the people around me. Not the people who lost anything, the people like me who just didn’t have power for a few days. Air conditioning, television, and cold Coke were the recurring themes. Well, and long lines to buy gas.

I used to really worry a lot about when the end of civilization comes, and we don’t have electricity or running water any more. Our current setup is clearly not sustainable, so it has to happen some time. As a computer scientist and physical wuss, I worried that, having no useful skills, I would be the first on the list of people to be eaten.

To my surprise, the power outage demonstrated that I could cope with it pretty well, at least in the short term. I’m actually pretty resourceful. Perhaps I’m a lot farther down the “to be eaten” list than I thought, especially now that I know how to knit. I still think it would be a good idea to learn to grow a garden, though.

It’s valuable when a disaster provides you with the wakeup call you need to get your life on track. It’s also nice when it confirms that you’re doing the right things and headed in the right direction. Rock on!

What about you? Is your life going where you want it to? If not, what do you need to change?

If you would like to help the tornado victims, please donate to the Red Cross: http://american.redcross.org/HelpSpringDisasters2011