Tuesday, May 26, 2015

It Got Us...

On Monday afternoon, we got to use the shelter for real. No tornado drill, but we got hit by the real deal.

Let me start by saying we are all ok and it was obviously a very small tornado, but enough to scare the living day lights out of us.

The boys and I had been sitting on the back porch all afternoon watching the storm roll in (one of my favorite things to do) while Micah was out in the shop cooking supper. For no reason in particular, I got up to look at the sky in front of the house. I noticed that it had stopped raining, gotten real still and the clouds were oddly low and moving in very unsettling ways. I told Remi to go get Micah to see what he thought. As soon as Micah came out and looked at the sky, he said I should get the boys in the shelter. I quickly yelled at Little Anne (who was standing on the back porch in terror) to come on and headed straight to the shelter. I unlocked the keypad as fast as my fingers could, threw down a blanket and within seconds Micah was literally sprinting to the shelter behind us. As he was shutting the door all I could hear was terrifyingly loud wind and shattering glass...

As I sat there I looked at Micah, then looked at the boys and couldn't believe we made it in time. I then noticed that Little Anne had somehow made it into the shelter (looking back and I am astounded that she was brave and fast enough to make it to safety).

When we finally ventured out, the damage was minor compared to what it really could have been. Three of our five trees were uprooted, one of the shop windows got blown out, almost everything on our porches was blown hundreds of feet into fields, our neighbors fence was blown over and trees were snapped. I had my cup of tea and phone on the porch table where I was sitting and afterward, my phone had been thrown into the yard, but my tea was still sitting there. I have always heard of weird things like this, but really?! That is so weird!

Micah said after he told me to head to the shelter, he literally saw a tornado form over our neighbors house and start sucking up debris. The path of the tornado went right over where the boys and I were standing looking at the sky and a lot of the damage was on our back porch... were the boys and I were minutes before it hit.

I realize we are so very blessed to still have a house and I also know that had the boys and I not gotten to safety when we did, we might not be here.

This is a Memorial Day I will never forget...



3 comments:

XO, Katie said...

Wow! So scary! I'm glad that yall are safe!

Cindy Rector said...

It is the scariest thing ever!! So thankful you were moved to get up and check the clouds before it was too late. Also thankful you all are safe and with minimal damage. The safe room is truly worth it's weight in gold!! Love you all!!

The Holik's said...

WOW!!! So scary!! Glad you all are safe!!