Tornado Warning!!!

I have come to realize that the worst feeling in the world is to be 4 blocks from home (where your 11-year-old and 5-year-old are) when the Tornado warning siren goes off.

Luckily, we weren't hit by a tornado. But the few minutes it took me and hubby to get home, driving down our main street with pouring rain and high winds, were just the beginning of one of the scariest hours of my life.

We did have 60mph winds and our town siren went off 3 times. I'm usually not really scared of weather, and I've always wanted to be a storm chaser. But, NOT NO MORE! I really thought, as I sat in the basement clutching my bible, praying like a madwoman, that in just a few minutes, we would be left with nothing but 3 bottles of water, 4 blankets, TOO many boxes of toys that haven't been unpacked since we moved, and the 2 50# boxes of photos that I hauled down the stairs into the basement.

Praise God, the worst of it was a dent in the car. And of course it was our 2002 car and not our 1995 car, but better a dent in a car than in a kid!

We did have some downed power lines and there was a tornado spotted about a mile outside of town, but we didn't have any major damage in town beside the fallen tree branches. Of course today was a beautiful, sunny day, just like nothing had happened. I believe there's a bible verse that says something about the Lord's blessings being new every morning!

And even though, I'm sure I'll remain calmer the next time this happens (my son's 5th grade classmate told me this morning that I'll get used to it!), I think I may be suffering from some sort of post-traumatic stress disorder. When the sky started to look sort of menacing this evening, I had to make a conscious effort to not come un-glued and rush everyone and everything back into the basement. And, much to my surprise, I really became un-nerved and kinda scared when my husband jokingly imitated the warning siren noise. So, I seem to be a little skittish right now when it comes to all things storm-related.

If I had to come up with something positive about the whole experience, I guess it would be that I now know what I need to keep stored in the basement. And knowing how to operate the storm radio would probably be helpful too.