Early last week, one of my plates fell and broke.  It wasn’t a big deal, and I knew it was just a plate, but it still bothered me.  Not that it broke, or that it was my fault – but that I no longer have equal numbers of all my dishes.  I decided to hunt around online, maybe visit a few stores at some point – surely the store from which I bought the set of dishes would also have single plates for sale!

That was the plan, at least.

The next day, I heard that a tornado – two, in fact – had just passed through my Wet State.  My family in the Wet State is safe.  The worst that happened was that some lost power for a few days.

Others weren’t so fortunate.  A few deaths were reported (I’m not sure just how many).  There was a fair amount of building damage.  One high school was separated from its gym.  Trees were uprooted and littered the road.  I’m rather glad that the (rather tall) pine tree next to the Family House in the Wet State was cut down some weeks ago.

And then, of course, life likes to make things interesting all at once.  On Friday, one of the Residents of my Apartment accidentally left the stovetop on after cooking.  Not a big deal, of course – except that we use a gas oven.  No flame was burning to remind us – all I noticed when I came downstairs was a slight smell of gas.  I assumed that it was left over from the cooking, and let it slide at that.  Some time later, one of the other Residents came home from work and remarked on the strong gas smell.  Immediately, she went over the the oven, turned the gas off, and opened the doors and windows.  I’d grown so used to it, I hadn’t noticed how strong it was.

Plates suddenly aren’t such a big deal.