I haven't posted in a while, and I figured maybe I should show a sign of life and post something so I figured I'd share a bit of my past with everyone and update on one of the biggest accomplishments I've done so far.
Let's rewind to my toddler days, when I was about 4 years old. I was living in Utah at the time, and a big storm had blown in. There was plenty of lightning and thunder and 4 year old me was scared out of her mind. My mom, finally having enough of it, decided to go outside (under our porch), sit me on her lap, and make me watch the storm roll through. From that day forward, my family and I would always sit on the porch and watch Mother Nature's fury unfold right before our eyes.
About a year later, they were watching what is still one of my favorite movies- Twister. I saw one of the scenes with a tornado and was totally engrossed in everything about it. My mom fast forwarded to all of the scenes involving tornadoes, and that became my new favorite movie. We've watched it so many times as a family that we can now recite almost the entire movie line by line.
After seeing the tornadoes on Twister, I decided to take things further. When I was about 7 I started researching the Weather. I read everything I could, researched the internet, and learned as much as I could about the weather, more specifically tornadoes. I thought I was going to be a storm chaser and attend University of Oklahoma. I continued this intensive research until I was about 12. When I had reached that age, I realized that pursuing a meteorology degree wasn't going to get me where I wanted to be in my life.
After that, all throughout Junior High and High School, I was more into computers and the technical side of the theater (which I still very much am). The weather enthusiast in me kind of fizzled out and died. It wasn't until I moved to Texas, and began experiencing (pretty much firsthand) just how ferocious Mother Nature can be. I found myself getting terrified whenever there was a tornado warning, and didn't have a clue about what was going on. So what did I do? During one particular storm, back in Fall 2015, I went back to my toddler days, and faced my fears.
I tuned into Twitter, and followed various local meteorologists, storm chasers, and the National Weather Service. I was seeing some of the people chasing the storms and something ignited the passion within me once again. One of my coworkers at work is very much involved in meteorology as well, and he helped me reattain my passion too.
This weekend, I pursued that dream just a little more and became a National Weather Service storm spotter! I'm a part of the Skywarn program, and we monitor a report called the Hazardous Weather Outlook, and wait to be called to action. When called upon, we are monitoring the weather and cloud formations with our own senses and sending data back into the National Weather Service. This is something I can do comfortably from my home, or I can be a "Mobile Spotter," or in other words, a storm chaser. I don't have plans of becoming a storm chaser, but I might chase some if they aren't far away or especially dangerous.
All of this being said, I've learned something too. Sometimes, those outrageous fears that we have, the ones we don't think we could ever get rid of, can turn into a passion. And those passions can become dreams. I think that we should follow those dreams, face those fears, and see what we can make of it. All I know is, following my childhood dream, and doing something with it, has me so excited. Bring on the storm season of 2016!
Love,
Alyssa
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