Big Weather and Bigger Longings

For the first time in the nine months since I left the TV biz, I truly feel the desire, undiluted, to go back.

Over the last two days there've been a series of massive tornado spawning storms tracking across the entire Midwest. They've completely flattened at least one town in Kansas (Greensburg).

This is the type of event I got into the TV News biz for, to help others by passing on important information. I'm not a police officer, a firefighter, a trained medic or search and rescue person. So, passing information is the only way I could help in this situation. And now, I can't do that. I've been quite frustrated all weekend.

I did e-mail my old boss offering to come in and help if they needed an extra pair of hands. I never even got a "Thanks, but no thanks" response from him. I'd thought our parting was amicable. I'd warned him a year and a half before I left that I was burned out and wouldn't be signing another contract. He seemed cool with that. But now, I wonder.

And the thing is, it's not like I'm planning on going back. At least not anytime soon. I love teaching and am ecstatically looking forward to summer vacation. It'll take me at least three years to complete my certification and I figure I owe at least that amount of time, if not more, to the school that hired me last fall untrained and uncertified.

Despite all that, I still find I don't like being on the sidelines when it comes to major events like this. I feel a strong desire to get out there and be a part of history. But I guess that's all history for me and I'll just have to resign myself to enjoying the benefits that the sidelines offer (i.e. more time with my family, summer vacations, uninterrupted vacations, etc.)

Nimitz' Lady