Not much if you're his mom.
We had several tornadoes tear through Murfreesboro on Good Friday. One went right over our house….it was so weird..and so surreal.
Ben and I used to talk about chasing tornadoes because we've always been so amazed by them. After we had the boys, though, I didn't want to chase tornadoes anymore.
The devastation caused by these storms ruined so many lives. Our community lost a mother and her 9 week old daughter. Homes leveled. Lives shifted from normal to chaotic. I have to admit…I didn’t know how bad it was until my friend Kathy called and said “Do you not have your TV on?” I had her son, Zach, and she was, of course, terrified because she wasn’t with him. He was here across town miles from her. I can’t imagine how she felt but I know that I was completely freaked out when I realized that we were in the path of a tornado!
I have to tell you that I became a redneck for a few moments that day. I really did. I got out on my front porch and took pictures of the thing!! What was I thinking? ..except ‘OMG MY FIRST TORNADO SIGHTING! I’VE WAITED SO LONG!!’. Yep. That’s what I was thinking.
It was there for what seemed forever and then it started going back up into the sky. I could CLEARLY see the debris flying around and I finally came out of my redneck trance and headed the kids off to the laundry room! I had five boys plus the dog and the fish (can’t forget them) with me in our small laundry room but it could have been a 2x2 closet and we wouldn’t have cared. We just wanted it to be over. Owen, my 8 year old, was so scared that he was shaking uncontrollably. I have never seen anyone that scared before and as I was sitting there holding him as tightly as I could and watching him cry I realized that my baby was still just that. A baby. An 8 year old baby but my baby nonetheless. What was I THINKING traipsing around taking PICTURES of killer tornadoes?! Ok so I won’t win the mother of the year award. He still loves me and that’s what matters. Nevertheless, I held him in that laundry room like our lives depended on it. My sweet Alex, one of Ians dearest friends, was with us too and he prayed for us while we were in that dreadful nightmare. Needless to say, it didn’t come through our home and sweep us all away to Oz but as it went overhead we DID hear that sound that you always hear people talk about. Well, not actually a train sound as much as a jet sound. We could hear things dropping on the house and flying through our OPEN windows (because 15 minutes earlier it had only been cloudy so they were open) and then it stopped. As fast as it started it stopped.
I took these photos over the next few hours and days. I really REALLY don’t care if I ever see another tornado as long as I live. Ben is a little jealous…but he wasn’t here or he would feel the same way. Ian and Jake are not traumatized but Owen will likely never forget the way he felt sitting there with my arms around him. I’ll never forget the way he felt either.
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