Tornado shelter Thursday night

The kids, and I laid down to take a wonderful nap about 4pm, and I awoke to my aunt being home about 5:30. I could hear them shuffling about the house which woke Emily, and she got up. I held camp in my bed with Jude, until I felt I just had to get up. I finally awoke, and we cooked some burgers, and just relaxed enjoying each others company. I then took Emily on a hike, and we collected some fascinating rocks together. Some of the rocks looked like glass, and that led to the discussion of possible multiple volcanic pipes in Arkansas. Once we got home we nestled in for a great game of Uno. We had the TV on while we played and we heard the tale tale signals of a thunderstorm. Being from TX we never take these things lightly.

In the south you familiarize yourself with the beeps, and signals the TV gives when there is a large severe storm heading your way. My husband watched the warnings, and tornado vortexes, and let us know what was heading our direction. He also checked our computer, and I relied on his advice. Our cabin is amazing, but it is easy to tell that it is a manufactured home, which is easily destroyed by high winds. Since we have two children here we watched the TV closely. Once they drew a line of a tornado on the ground heading towards our area, we hit the road to the cement/steel bathrooms by our cabins. We held camp in there for about an hour until the storm had cleared. I had met some older men that said they spent many a night in the bathrooms riding out storms. It sounds terrible, but we actually had fun minus the tornado scare. My aunt was funny, and she made me appreciate what a genuine soul she has. I believe if you can take a second to over look people's faults, and just appreciate who they are then you get so much more out of life!! We even enjoyed the spider " Charlotte" that joined our party.

So Mike and Wayne gave us the, "all clear", to leave the bathroom. I have been in two tornado's in my lifetime, and I do not wish to be in anymore. I would rather be safe than sorry. The tornado's I was in were only an F1, but were enough to leave a permanent impact on me. When a tornado strikes I have noticed that the scene seems to be similar. There is light rain and lightening, and then suddenly the air become still.........EVERYTHING becomes still. The sky is green, and it seems that the air around you is sucked into a vaccum.... that eventually explodes upon your area, and sounds like a loud freight train. I was in a storm shelter in one tornado, and the other was just the tail winds, and I was in closet. I seem to have a personal relationship with storms. Tonight we seemed to get little more than rain and lightning. Once we got home we realized just how lucky we are. The storm seemed to make a V, and leave our town alone. Mena, and DeQueen Arkansas both received major damage. Mena is so bad they shut the roads in and out of their city, and many people are trapped. I never take for granted that I will be the city that was left untouched, because I was once the city that was touched. Make sense?

I guess it's a bit like Jude. I never take for granted what he does now, because once upon a time I never could! Anyway, we are safe and sound, but I feel for the city that was hit. Tomorrow we have a big day in hot springs. I am looking forward to it.