It’s frustrating when a battery dies, unless it saves your life.
Spring in Oklahoma means severe weather. Tornadoes and severe weather are the norm this time of year if you are from the Midwest. Even though I grew up in Oklahoma, I’ve never seen a tornado, but I had a close call two years ago.
I drove a lot in Summer 2014. I listened to my iPod to pass the time in the car because there are no commercials and I can pick the music, but listening to your iPod in the car has one drawback. You can’t hear weather alerts on the radio.
I knew severe weather was expected as I prepared to make the three hour drive home from my fiancé’s house.
I didn’t pay attention because, in Oklahoma, severe weather is expected every day in May. Tornado watches mean nothing to me.
I left Tulsa and headed down the turnpike toward Oklahoma City to get to my home town of Ringling, Okla. Just miles before I passed the last exit before Oklahoma City, my iPod died, so I turned on the radio. When I did, the all too familiar screech of the Emergency Broadcast System blared through my speakers. The shrill noise gave way to a robotic voice reporting a tornado on the ground in north Oklahoma City.
I pulled off the turnpike at the next exit into the parking lot of a gas station to figure out what was going on.
I called my Dad and tried to check the radar on my phone. A tornado was moving through Edmond and tracking up the turnpike.
I decided it was best to turn around and find another way home. Luckily I pulled off of the turnpike at the only exit where you can turn around.
When I finally calmed down, I realized that, had my iPod not died when it did, I could have driven into a tornado.
I wouldn’t have heard the warning if I charged my iPod the night before, like I normally did.
All of these little things added up to allow me to avoid the tornado.
To this day I still feel someone was watching out for me.
It was just a dead iPod, but it may have saved my life.
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