FEAR

Did you see the news this morning?  The absolute terrible tornado that wiped out Joplin, Missouri.  The power of nature and the quickness with which it can strike.  I will admit that I have a fear of tornadoes.  Every so often I have the dreaded tornado dream.  Probably watched The Wizard of Oz way too much as a youth.

So Jack had a baseball game tonight in a town about 10 minutes North of us.  The skies were grey all day but the rain let up late afternoon so game on.  About three innings in, Kate decides she has to go to the bathroom.  No modern facilities, only dreaded port-o-pots.  I have put my foot down and just won't do them.  So I put her in the minivan and we drove home. 

Just as we arrive home it starts raining but not terribly hard.  We were going to stay home but Kate insisted on going back to the game.  So we hop back in the minivan and drive.  The skies are now black and just as we pull into the parking lot there was a huge bolt of lightning.  All at once, the kids clear the field.  Everyone piles in the minivan and we head home.  We were chatting about the tornado in Missouri and named every single state not to live in if you dislike tornadoes.  Such as Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, etc.

We get home and grandma calls!  "Did you hear there are tornado warnings?"  That means a tornado has been spotted.  Yikes!  We turn on the TV and they announce all the cities and times that the weather is expected in that area.  Turns out at the exact same time I drove back to the ball game is when the tornado was expected in that town.  OMG.  Note: Pennsylvania was not on our list!

I had two hysterical kids (one calm kid) and we grabbed our old cats and went in the basement.  Mike was in the garage with a neighbor keeping an eye on the sky!

Tracy

"Toto, I have a feeling we're

not in Kansas anymore."

- Dorothy