Forever Young in Tornado Alley

This past weekend, family from far and wide descended upon our little corner of the world for a momentous occassion.
My uncle went and got hitched!

My uncle is more likely to ask you where you're finding your happiness these days than how your job is going, and my aunt is famous for accidentally calling coyotes into their yard in the country.  They are both the epitome of drama-free living and seem to have found a peace and happiness that runs deep.

"Forever Young" was chosen as the recessional music, and I think we had all forgotten what damn good song that is:

Words and pictures can only go so far in describing the feeling of seeing two loved ones, who normally shy away from the spotlight, say those vows out loud with their nearest and dearest in attendance.  But I can say that it's a good one.


"May the good Lord be with you down every road you roam...



...and may sunshine and happiness surround you when you're far from home."


After the ceremony, we headed to Dyck Arboretum of the Plains for the reception. We feasted, we laughed, and feasted some more.

Feasting and laughing is thirsty work.

The reception was very lovely, with delicious food, champagne, and of course, wedding cake. 

But oh, there was much more in the air than love, my friends.  And we had been feeling it all day.

Kansas, like most of the Midwest, is not known for steady weather conditions.  That's because the plains is where warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico meets up with cooler, dry air and cause a whole lot of atmospheric instability.  Wind and moisture get sucked up into ever growing clouds and thunderstorms are born.  Thanks to the magic of radar and weather monitoring, we know when such a collision is going to occur, and even if we didn't we could still feel it in our skin. 

For example, while the view outside at the reception was this:

It felt like we were looking at this:

In fact, we were currently sandwiched between two supercells (your above average thunderstorm that is usually the giant in the sky spinning off tornadoes), with a smaller storm headed our direction.

Image courtesy here.

The bottom supercell is the one that dropped a big ol' twister on Wichita causing about $283 million in damage.  Thankfully, there were no deaths in Kansas despite the powerful storms, and that's being attributed to advance warnings, better radar, and people taking the warnings seriously.  Last year's outbreaks, especially in Joplin, is still fresh on our minds.

While we escaped any really severe weather ourselves, that didn't stop me from imagining the worst possible outcome for the rest of the evening:

Worst outcome: Suddenly being a tween with a baby facing the terror of a night
filled with successive tornadoes.

To sum up: There was a lot of family, a lot of marriage, a lot of love in general, and a sampling of the raw forces of nature. 

It was a pretty good Saturday.