I Thought Monogamy Was A Good Thing?

I've been seeing a recent resurgence of the opinion that to dedicate one's life to chasing storms is pathetic. To put the pursuit and observation of severe weather at the top of one's priority list is folly. To spend time away from tornado hunting pining for your next one is ridiculous. You're supposed to have other hobbies during the off season. You're supposed to not care about chasing when it's not chase season. You're supposed to live a fulfilling life during those storm-lacking Winter months. And last but not least, during all of that, you're not supposed to show a smidgen of desire for warm Gulf air carried effortlessly by southern breezes, billowing thunderheads that melt in the sky like cotton candy in your mouth, or twisting tubes of restless energy, writhing like a startled snake in the grass. Really?

I've dealt with this opinion since the inception of my chasing career. I was always too overboard, too dedicated, too serious. This was coming from veterans of several years, even decades, while I was still in my very early, formative years. I guess my younger-at-the-time mind simply couldn't grasp the concept that perhaps as I grew older, my priorities would change. Oh I could easily understand that theirs had, just not my own. I found it difficult to understand how their dedication and interest in chasing severe weather could wane, but I never questioned its validity. It simply wasn't the same case with me. Not then, not now.

What puzzles me now is, a lot of this opinion seems to be coming from newer, younger chasers. People who have maybe a third of my experience. Suddenly it seems in vogue to not only dismiss chasing away from chase season, but to scoff at it. SDS, a long-enduring term in the chasing world, has now become a laughing stock, a literal weapon that's used by casual chasers against more dedicated ones, to mock their "pathetic whining about needing a storm chase." These "losers" are being told that they need to "get a life" which has long been one of my most-hated phrases. I hate it because, like so many other words and phrases people use today, it doesn't say what it really means. To say "get a life" really means "my life is better than yours because what you do isn't interesting or exciting to me." Another translation for the term "get a life" is simply "get my life."

My message to these people is simple: live and let live. I don't go around mocking people who chase casually, or simply choose to "disappear" from the chasing world after the season ends. I don't make fun of folks who seem to need some type of hobby or engagement or stimulation constantly, year-round. I don't understand them, but I respect them.

Looking at this from the mirror image point-of-view, I have some questions. What is the seemingly necessary correlation between people who chase storms and having to be a professional photographer? Why do people who chase storms also have to bird watch? Why do individuals who stare at the sky each Spring also stare through telescopes at night? Why are all the die-hard chasers of the 00s becoming nature photographers? I already know the answers to these questions: because they're evolving. They're discovering. They're seeing and experiencing new things and getting new ideas, and with each one, they discover a desire to keep going. And that's cool.

In my case, I discovered storm chasing fifteen years ago. That's where my journey ended, because chasing was everything I'd ever wanted. Everything I'd been looking for. And that hasn't changed in all these years. I started my chasing journey with a lot of other people, many of whom were friends at one point or another. Some still are. But most of them have continued their journey, onward to new and perhaps bigger discoveries. I found mine at chasing, and simply lived my dream as they rode off into the sunsets of their own lives, looking, searching for something more. And it was a friendly parting. Sometimes I still see them when they come back through my neck of the woods, during the point in a year when their journey takes them back into the world of chasing. But during those times of the year when their journeys take them away from me once again, I still remain in my woods, yearning for that next chase, that next storm, that next tornado on video. Even that next DVD. And I love it.

So fellow chasers who journey away from chasing during the year, don't pity me. I'm probably happier than all of you just waiting, dreaming about my next hunt. And for those of you who seem to look down your nose at people like me, who found their destination early and have clung to it with a passion that's higher than the gods, don't ridicule me. There's an old phrase that says "if you love two, you don't really love either." I'm not questioning your dedication to your multiple hobbies or interests with those words. I'm saying that, as much as you love all the things you do...imagine how much I must love chasing, to have granted it exclusive province to my heart, mind, body, and soul.