Close Call.

First... how cute is my husband? That last post was the best mother's day card EVER. I am so blessed to have Chris in my life.

Also... Happy mother's day to you momma's out there!

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Last Wednesday evening, I was lazing about the house- browsing the internet and organizing piles of random stuff in my bedroom. Chris was asleep on the couch and Ezra was snuggling with him, and all was quiet. It had been a very nice day.

That's when I thought I heard something strange. What was that noise?

Then it clicked. The old WWII sirens were echoing through the neighborhood.

Tornadoes.

I thought it might just be the thing where they briefly sound the sirens to just let people know that the weather is a bit weird- to let us know that we should be alert and keeping their eyes on the TV. I thought it was no big deal.

I casually walked into the living room and fliped on the TV.

Immediatley, I heard the weatherman saying that MY neighborhood needed to take shelter. That I should be underground.... That this was serious.

I woke Chris up. "Umm... honey? They are saying we need to be taking shelter. Right now."

We fly into prep mode. I grab Ezra some pants. (Oh, why is he interminably pants-less?) I grab a jacket. And a blanket. And a banana. (Hey- I was freaking a bit. A banana made sense at the time.) Chris gets the weather radio and the flashlights and we drop into our shelter. I scurry back out to grab Ezra's new library books because, hello? Entertaining a toddler in a bunker requires some assistance. Dur.

Our neighbor calls. She's not sure what to do. Chris runs next door in the torrential rain and scoops up their young daughter and runs her straight back to the shelter while our neighbor grabs some things and follows behind a couple of minutes later.

After only a few minutes, the winds come. And they are STRONG. Even from under the ground in a steel bunker with the lid closed tightly, we can feel the rumble and hear the garage door flexing above us. Trashcans topple over and our gate slams open.

The kids are fine- perfectly content down there and clueless as to what's happening above them. We read stories and they play with flashlights. I tremble and feel panicked. Chris tries to find the most accurate information on the radio. They think a tornado is on the ground, but the rain is so heavy that they can't be sure because no one can see anything. We are completely relieved to be in a safe place. I ask Chris if we have house insurance. He laughs nervously and says that we do.

After about ten minutes, it was safe to come out again. We looked around briefly and saw no major damage- just tree limbs down here and there. Trash cans scattered. Everything was okay.

I was surprised at how very little warning we had with this storm, and grateful to have a place so near to take shelter in. No major damage happened in the city, but these storms went on to produce dozens of tornadoes throughout the state.

We were SO very lucky, we know this. Our thoughts are with those who have been affected by these recent storms- those who weren't so lucky as we.