Imagine the scene. . . Kathy and I are just leaving an entertaining  performance of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” at the Fireside Dinner Theater in Fort Atkinson.  We’re there with Kathy’s dad, as well as Polly, Mark, and Polly-  and feeling so good about the day which we had spent together.   As we stood in line, waiting for Lorelai to meet and have her picture taken with Cinderella and the Prince,  ours felt like an utterly charmed life.  What a perfecrt birthday for Kathy!

Then my brother-in-law Mark’s cell phone buzzed-  and it was a text from our friend Rita Gentile-  saying that she had heard something about a tornado touching down in Racine, and it sounded like the most serious damage was very close to our house.

Very close to our house.

It is incredible how the world can go from radiant gold to sour gray in the space of a few moments. . . or how quickly your stomach can suddenly be lodged in your throat.

We spent the next few minutes standing in the parking lot, desperately trying to find out just what happened and where-  and whether or not our little house had been damaged or destroyed.   The first reports, from friends of ours in the neighborhood,  was that a tornado had indeed touched down but that the worst damage seemed to be a few blocks north and west of our house- although definitely too close for us to rest easy.  Our final reassurance came when I thought to call my WGTD boss, Dave Cole,  on his cell phone- and as luck would have it, at that very moment he was driving around the south side of Racine, checking out the damage in order to do a story about it….   and he was kind enough to drive a few blocks out of his way to see what our house looked like.   And when we got the word straight from him that our house was perfectly fine,  we were finally able to smile and relax and look forward to an enjoyable drive home.

As we drove back into Racine a couple of hours later,  at first we saw no signs whatsoever that there had been any sort of storm.  And then suddenly, right along highway 11 just before the Wal-Mart,  we saw two sizable trees snapped off-  and two semi-truck trailers flipped on their sides.  This was as good an indication as any that the damage was not due to your standard severe thunderstorm – which would deliver more widespread damage – but rather to a tornado, with its maddening capriciousness.   Then for two blocks we saw nothing wrong – no hint of even minor damage – but then as we got closer to our house there was extensive evidence that the tornado had touched down again, with huge trees down- in a couple of cases right on top of people’s homes. At that point, we could only wonder what we would find as we drove on.   But after three blocks of one downed tree after another,  suddenly it was as though it had been a perfectly peaceful day.   Our house didn’t seem to have so much as a leaf down –  and the flower pots on our patio appeared to be completely undisturbed.   We probably didn’t even lose power, because none of the digital clocks or timers were flashing to indicate a loss of electricity.

So the tornado (a small and weak one, by the way) had tracked north of us, bypassing our corner of the neighborhood altogether. . .  but only by a margin of five blocks.

Five blocks.

And to think that as we drove to Fort Atkinson this morning, I took note of a road sign that said “Eagle   8 Miles.”    Eagle is the community that just had some homes completely destroyed by a tornado –  and since we were so close to the town,  I asked at that point if we could perhaps drive through on our way back to Racine and see if there was anything to see.  (I’ve inherited from my mother a rather insatiable curiosity about storm damage.)   That’s right- I was asking for us to drive through Eagle in the hopes –  in the hopes! – that there would be damage for us to see.  But there’s nothing like the cold harsh reality of a tornado touching down in your own community – and not far from your own home – to shake you loose from the notion that the misfortune of others can and should provide a bit of added entertainment on a Sunday afternoon.

pictured above:  some of the downed trees.  This particular photo was taken about six blocks from our house.