Back in the Closet

It all started with the alarm. A VERY, VERY loud alarm that woke us up on Thursday night. Mere sat up and said, "I think that is the tornado alarm." OK, so it was storming outside but I figured it was just another Arkansas thunderstorm that we have grown to expect this time of the year. We both jumped up and ran to the tv. Yes, there were several "twisters" heading straight for us. There are always tornados in Arkansas but they never go through Little Rock and I've never heard the tornado alarms going off except for the Wed afternoon test. They just kept screaming and screaming. As we are sitting there watching tv I look at Mere and ask, "should we get in the closet?" She is still pretty calm and says, "no, not yet. we are still good." Then another update on the path of the tornado.....yep, right towards are neighborhood. Mere says, "I think we should go in the closet." Then the lights go out and we realize we don't have a flashlight. I grab Syd and Mere grabs Layne (both blissfully unaware of what is going on) and we stuff ourselves into a very small closet in the back of the house. No radio, no tv, no phone, no lights, no flashlight. Just us sitting there wondering what is going to happen. All you could hear was wind and the tornado alarm. Then one of the alarms quit sounding mid-siren. Great, now we can't even hear the alarms.

Syd wakes up and says, "mommy, why are we in the closet?" I explain that there is a storm and that everything is going to be fine. She says, "right, because I'm with mommy and momma and you will keep us safe." I said, "that's right honey, go back to sleep." But I can't keep you safe from a tornado. In that moment everything stopped. All I wanted was to keep my girls safe. All of a sudden nothing else was important, nothing else mattered....just my girls.

It was so quiet and kinda eerie and then we hear, "Nur-Nur, Nur-Nur." Layne doesn't care where we are or what is happening, she just wants to nurse. I'm thinking the most massive, destructive tornado cannot rip Layne away from the "Nur-Nurs." It was a little comic relief when we needed it most.

Anyway, long story short....we survived without any damage to us or our house. The tornado did do some pretty hefty damage but it missed us and our neighborhood...THANK GOD! It was scary but fast. Sydney got to spend Friday at home because her school lost power. Luckily, ours was back on by Friday night. Sat morning Syd woke up and said, "I sure am glad there were no more tornados last night." Amen to that!