Driving through Death, Mr. T and Hitler Cats

I'm back in Nashville at my mother's house after my long weekend with my college friends in St. Louis. We all came in from various parts of the country (NYC, San Diego, San Francisco, Philadelphia) and stayed together at my friend Julie's place in one of our yearly get-together.

I drove up from Nashville on Friday morning, and as I drove through southern Illinois, I was hit by a monster thunderstorm with tornado warnings. I had rented a car that, unfortunately for me, did not have a CD player, so I was forced to listen to the radio for the 5 hour drive. One good thing about the radio, besides hearing those forgotten but loved hits of the 70s, 80s, and "whatever else we want to play," was that the radio also warned me that I was driving through tornados and to find shelter immediately. That's very comforting to hear when you are in the middle of nowhere, with cornfields on either side of the highway. I had lost ability to see the road anyway by that point, as the rain and hail were being blown sideways by the 40 mph winds, so got off at the next exit, which had no amenities to speak of. I drove for about a mile in one direction, looking for any sort of public building. I saw a few houses, but wasn't prepared to go knock on a stranger's door begging for shelter. I eyed the side of the road, wondering if staying in the car or going to lie in a ditch would be a better idea. I turned around in and drove back to the highway, and saw an overturned semi on the opposite side of the divided road. Comforting. The rain was still being blown sideways, and the tornado warnings coming on the radio every 60 seconds had indeed gotten through to me, and I was now literally shaking in fear. I saw the highway overpass, and parked as close to it as I could, behind and beside the other cars who had decided being under the bridge was the best way to ride out a storm in the middle of nowhere. After 30 minutes of intense rain and shaking, the storm passed and the rain slowed to a normal rate. I got back on the highway and drove west as quickly as I safely could, hoping the storms were moving east. I eventually stopped shaking as I got closer to Missouri and the sun appeared. I called my mother as soon as I was in cell phone range to relate my brush with death, and we agreed that next time I drove we should check the weather before-hand.

So, a few hours later, I am safely at Julie's house, having let myself in with the key she hid for me. I am reading the paper on her kitchen counter, when in strolls a beautiful black tuxedo cat who looks a lot like my own cat, Purrcy, who disappeared a few years ago. After a few minutes of watching me, Julie's cat jumps up on the table for me to pet him. I see on his tag that his name is Mr. T (later I found out this is short for Mr. Thibodeaux, Julie's Cajun card-playing alias from our college days of playing spades). So, after saying hello to Mr. T, I soon had the theme song from the animated cartoon in my head for the remainder of the weekend, as well as some of Mr. T's well-known phrases like, "I pity the fool."

When Julie and the rest of our college friends arrived from the airport, we quickly began catching up with each other, laughing, singing, and acting goofy (well, maybe I was the only one acting goofy!). But, get this, NONE of them knew the Mr. T theme song. Only a few even had a recollection that there had been an animated show featuring Mr. T. driving around in a bus with a multi-cultural group of gymnasts, as well as a dog with a T-matching Mohawk. Yeah, I know! Can you believe that this masterpiece of animation skipped their minds?

Just in case any of you have also never heard of this show or the amazingly catchy theme song, it is above, as well as some very funny parodies that appeared on SNL, I think.

Over our weekend of non-stop talking, eating, and laughing, we also had some times of just sitting around watching TV and reading magazines. This was good, too, because it introduced me to the highly entertaining "Pimp My Ride" and "Pants Off Dance Off." In this week's (or last week's) Entertainment Weekly, there was a website featured that posts pictures of cats that look like Hitler. The cat in the magazine was definitely Hitler's spitting image, if Hitler had been a cat. Hope for the sake of the poor cat (or maybe I should say the poor cat's owner) it doesn't have Hitler's personality as well! To see this cat, click on the "Unknown Kitler."

Off the corral my children. Did I mention how nice it was to sleep in and not have to worry about my kids for a few days?