Life is tough.

I'm worried about my uncle Allen. He is currently in the St. Luke's Hospital emergency room in New Bedford, Massachusetts with chest pains.

Also, a couple of days ago, my family was once again subjected to the tornado's wrath. This makes four times in about 15 years. How do those odds stack up?

Tornado #1: It hit Westminster and went up my son-in-law Bob Clark's driveway, twisting metal into circular knots.

Tornado #2: As we drove up Interstate 795 from Baltimore, we were passed by numerous emergency vehicles. We tuned into the news and found out that a tornado was right now tearing up Reisterstown. We were worried, because son, Christopher, and his two young daughters were supposed to move into a townhouse today. They had rented a very expensive truck and were obligated to return it early in the evening.

As we dreaded, the tornado did, indeed, affect Chris' move-in plans. It hit the townhouses and apartments in the area. Damage to Chris' townhouse was restricted to broken glass.. but the glass was from every window and door in the house. Glass shards were all over the floors.

When we arrived on the scene, I went to the management office and said that two little girls could not move into a house that had floors filled with sharp pieces of glass. The manager told me to "get lost". I did not "get lost", but stayed there in the office, making a pest of myself.

Finally, at the shift change, a different manager came on duty and immediately arranged for a married couple to come up and clean up the glass and install new glass. They did so in a short period of time and Chris and his little girls were able to move in late that night.

Tornado #3: A tornado hit Gamber and destroyed lots of homes. At one of the homes, the wind moved children from the second floor out into the yard. The children, miraculously, were not hurt.

Our Gamber house was at the tail end of the tornado and an apple tree at the end of our property was knocked completely over. In addition, everyone whose house was destroyed had their personal possessions lifted into the air and deposited in our back yard. My son gathered up as much as possible and took it to the Gamber fire hall for pick up by the owners.

Tornado #4: Another tornado tore through Gamber the other day and destroyed a few houses. Our house, which had now been bought by my daughter, did not escape this wind. A massive limb was broken off one of the maple trees and is spread across all of the front lawn. Luckily, the limb missed the house.

So.. there it is.. four tornados for our family.. what are the odds of that happening? How come I can't hit the lottery?

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