I'm a planner by nature. In fact, as a child, I usually planned my next year's birthday party shortly after the conclusion of the current one. Guess I might be a birthday girl, but I love to plan ahead.
Living in the Midwest you get accustomed to preparing for storms. With the potential for large amounts of snow, winter storms require planning so that you have plenty of food, milk ,and of course, Reddi Whip ready for hot cocoa emergencies. Spring Storms mean you need to have a tornado basket ready with flashlights, batteries for a radio, and blankets for protection and comfort.
Having survived a tornado as a child, I don't really mess around with Watches, Warnings or Weather Threats. I've seen close up what a tornado can do. It destroyed my house while my mother and I were at a Girl Scout Meeting at the Elementary School a few blocks from our house and my father and brother were huddled up under a chair in our basement.
I was a 2nd Grade Brownie Girl Scout and my mother was the Leader. It was right after school on a clear May afternoon. There was no time to think about what to do. My father, in an attempt to come to the school to bring us home, had seen our neighbors roof fly off their house and he quickly decided to stay home.
My mother, the ever prepared GS Leader, happened to have a flashlight in her purse and huddled all of us girls in the school hallway between two huge steel doors. I don't remember being scared or nervous; just confident she could handle it. After the storm, the Principal took my mother outside to survey the damage. The neighborhood was destroyed. Many homes were leveled. Amazingly, all the parents arrived to pick up their girls that day. No one had been harmed.
Once everyone had gone "home," my mom and I walked the few blocks to our house. Everywhere, there were houses with roofs gone, windows gone, and debris littered the streets (thus why we walked). We had no idea what we would discover once we got home. My mother prayed that we'd find our house OK, but most of all she prayed that my brother and dad had been spared harm and that we'd find them alive and well. I remember being scared.
When we finally saw our house ahead and my dad and brother standing in our driveway, I'm sure my mother and I both cried. God had protected them and, while our house was "destroyed," our family was intact. Really that was all that mattered.
Since that day in 1975, I've taken Storms seriously. I heed the warnings and take precautions when there is the potential of a storm. I've seen what it can do and, while I'm not afraid, I believe in being prepared. I've been known to grab sleeping babies out of their cribs when the sirens go off. I've told baseball umpires to call games when I've seen dark clouds, strong winds, and lightening nearby. Lastly, I'm training my children to listen for sirens and head downstairs right away. I know the lessons have been heard when last summer, when I was at the store, the sirens went off and Mr C. gathered his sisters and went to the basement,
Last night, we were prepared for the worst. We had our shoes ready at the basement door. I had my purse and my keys to the car sitting there with the camera as I had pictures I'd yet to download. The batteries were in place and we had Mr C's trusty Camp Lantern all ready. The kids had even picked up the basement. It was waiting for us in case we needed it.
Thankfully, it was just a false alarm. The storm passed us by to the North and we didn't even get any rain. I was thankful. Thankful that we were prepared and that we didn't need to put our storm plan into action.
However this morning when I realized that the "no storm" meant no rain outs for our concert, softball, baseball, and soccer games I might have felt a little unprepared to leave. All things considered, I'll take a calm night weather wise even if it means a jammed packed morning.
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