Natchez Nostalgia

I miss Natchez. Ha ha, after I first got there in 2006, I never thought I would ever say "I miss Natchez." But I do. I had a great time there in 2006 and 2007. This morning before the day's activities begin I was going through some of my journal entries from my first summer in Natchez.

Here's one from shortly after I began working at the Natchez National Historical Park:

May 10, 2006

"Rangers Tim, Ayne, and myself were getting ready to close Melrose, when . . . the Natchez tornado sirens went off!!!! It was sooooooooo creepy! We were the only ones left at the park, there were these dark clouds outside, the air was totally still, and there were these loud, droning sirens going off. It reminded me of the World War II movies you see where the bomb raid sirens are going off (except that there were no airplanes involved today). The three of us looked at each other, and we were like, 'What do we do?' Ranger Tim tried to get the radio to work, but it didn’t. We looked online, and it appeared that the strong storms were a little north of us. They sent me back to close up the slave cabins, and I was totally freaked out. I decided that, even though I had always thought it would be fun to see a tornado from a distance, I could probably do without ever seeing one. So I ran back to the cabins, closed them up, and ran back to the visitors’ center. Tim said, 'Let’s get out of here.' So, I trucked it home on my bike, but by this time the sun was poking through the clouds, and I figured the worst was over. Then I remembered how in movies like Twister, the weather can be great, and then all of a sudden a tornado will pop out of the sky. Jessica hadn’t heard the sirens because she was at Girl Scouts this afternoon, and her girls were being kind of loud. She was pretty surprised to hear that they had gone off. I was just getting ready to get in the shower, when more dark clouds blew in and the sirens went off AGAIN! Two sirens in one day—I could hardly stand it—it was exciting and scary at the same time! This time Jessica heard them too so we turned on the Weather Channel. The screen was red and the same strange man from the thunderstorm warning the other night was saying, 'A tornado warning has been issued for Adams County, Mississippi until 6:30 p.m. Please take the proper precautions.' I decided to go take a shower anyway, because the bathroom is probably where I would go if there ended up being a tornado. When I got out of the shower, I turned on the TV in my room, and they were talking about a large tornado that had touched down about 9 miles northeast of Natchez. I was like, 'Ahhhh! I’m in Natchez!' Luckily the storm kept moving east, but it was a little too close for comfort. This could be a long tornado season—and hurricane season starts on June 1. I’m beginning to think that weather-wise, Utah is definitely the place for me. It is kind of exciting here though. It’s like the movie Twister, only it’s real life! Cool."

I had some seriously good times in Natchez. When I first got there I was really homesick and didn't want to be there, but everyone told me to hang in there and that things would get better. Everyone was right--it did get better. In fact, I was sad to leave in August 2006, and when I ended up not staying at Western Illinois University that fall, I went back to Natchez to work for the rest of the fall--and I went back the next summer! Good times in Natchez. I did like all of the Spanish moss on the trees, the kudzu vines, the Mississippi River, the historic houses, the tourists, and, of course, my cool ranger friends. The picture up there at the top is of the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race in October 2006--that was super cool. A little nostalgia is good for everyone now and then, right?

Well, I'm off to change some light bulbs, do some laundry, vacuum, write papers, work with Dr. Hardeman, go to Institute, and do more homework.