TO WALK AMONGST THE GIANTS

I think I was maybe 4 years old. There was a tornado warning and I was at daycare. I remember the sky was yellow, and the clouds were alive. Maybe it was that, maybe it was The Wizard of Oz. But for certain, in my earliest memories when the sirens would blow, I would be going outside when people were racing in. I've had the obsession ever since. Then, one day, I saw one. Just it, and I. A Presence. Beautiful, Powerful, Mysterious, Violent, Majestic. From the time I could legally drive until now, I've tried to see these things up close. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Just drive towards the dark sky and hope to see something. NOAA weather radio on the AM dial. Later, pixely radar apps on a Blackberry phone. No studying models, no models to even see like one can now. Just cowboy stuff. It really makes me respect the storm chasers who were doing this before Google Maps and RadarScope, or even cellphones. Those guys are the real deal. 

I love the open road. The freeness of it all. As a filmmaker, God is my canvas out here. I'm not super religious but I feel that whatever God is, when I'm out here, amongst the giants, it's near, and I feel it with all my being.