Fears

People are afraid of many things, bugs, snakes, or spiders. My fear is tornadoes. I would go as far as saying I have a phobia and probably should be medicated. When I was a child I remember getting so nervous, I threw up. I always get nervous, even with thunderstorms. I don't sleep (at all). There have been times as an adult I have cried. Yes, I admit, it is irrational.

This week was tough. Beginning on Monday, the forecast was for VERY severe weather and tornadoes on Tuesday. Tuesday morning came and around 11am, we got an emergency notification from work asking all of the employees to take precautions and to review emergency procedures and shelter locations. The nervousness begins, the pit in my stomach grows. I am constantly looking out the windows and really can't concentrate on work.

Around noon, the phone call from daycare comes in. They want all the kids picked up before the storm hits. Pictures of my child being corralled into a bathroom with 20 other children and a handful adults trying to keep them calm. The image sickens me. The nervousness continues, the sick feeling grows in my stomach.

A little after 1pm, we were told that all the of clinics were closing at 3pm and to finish up all work so we could leave. First time ever that we have been sent home early because of summer weather.

I left at 3:15pm, arrived at daycare at 3:50pm and the first tornado was already on the ground. It was west of the metro and moving in. I got home and started packing stuff. I was piling blankets and flashlights into the bathroom. I started packing items that we would need assuming there was going to be nothing left. Irrational? I don't know. Multiple pairs of underwear for Spencer, jeans, wipes, pull ups - who knows where we will end up. Irrational thoughts screaming through my mind.

The tornado is on the edge of NW OKC. Three separate cells merge in southern OK, heading straight toward Moore. Justin walks in, there is a tornado in Chickasha (just 20 miles southwest of Moore). Justin calls our friends Clay and Shyla and ask if they have room in their storm shelter. We leave immediately. The prediction is the tornado hitting us dead on at 5:55pm.

At 5:45 we all head into the shelter. It is dark, hot and loud. We can hear it pounding outside. The weather radio talks about a tornado at 164th & Western, one mile from our house. We finally emerge to find out that more tornadoes had touched down.

The evening went on. People are dead, babies missing and I hold my babies tight and watch as the evening unfolds more horrors.

Irrational fear, I don't think so.