This is not a drill

Recently, our county implemented a service called "Code Red" wherein you can receive calls to your cell or house phone (or both) regarding severe weather warnings in your area. I LOVE this! As a family without cable, we miss out on the bottom of the screen alerts that warn most people of incoming storms. Of course, that never worked in the middle of the night anyway, and a weather radio is one of those things I've always meant to buy but never have.

So last night, at about 1am, my cell phone and our house phone began ringing, and drug us (by us, I mean me and I drug Chris) out of our sleep-induced stupor long enough to alert us of a severe thunderstorm warning in our area. I stumbled to the computer, and sure enough, glowing red and orange and yellow was a nasty line of clouds headed our way. I stood at the window long enough to count the lightning flashes - and there were lots - one, two, three, four...losing count after a very fast 15 or so.
So I lay awake, with the window cracked, listening for the storm to kick up or the local sirens to go off, as my husband and daughter's rhythmic breathing urged me to join them in slumber. I was up long enough to ensure the storm was passing just to the north of us, and that we were in no imminent danger before I drifted back off.

While it added yet another dimension to my already interruption-riddled sleep, I can't tell you how reassuring it was to know someone else was up, watching the weather and sending out these crucial alerts. Had this storm come right over us, or a tornado threatened, hopefully those calls would have given us ample time to seek shelter. Knowing this will help me sleep even easier the nights the phone doesn't ring.