From ice storms to hurricanes, living in the South, we have seen our share of severe weather, but last week's storms topped them all. At our house, we experienced lots of wind, rain, a little hail, and some very ominous looking skies. It was unnerving, but not too bad. Had we known exactly what was going on just a couple of miles from us at the time, we would have been terrified.
Wednesday morning we woke up to thunderstorms and tornado sirens. The kids were happy that school was delayed and then ended early as storms continued to move through the area. In the afternoon, they made their usual nest of pillows and blankets in our pantry "safe place" just-in-case, but not until the radio stations went off the air and the power cut out did we really start to think that this was more than just a typical bout of severe weather. When the power didn't come back on after a few minutes, we dug out our battery-operated radio and got our first clue of what had happened. The whole county and most of northern Alabama was without power. People calling into the radio station were telling about massive destruction and whole neighborhoods being blown away. The longer we listened, the worse and worse the news got, and we started to realize just how blessed we had been to escape unscathed.
We were also very grateful for all the emergency items we had at home that were suddenly very important--flashlights, batteries, a radio, a lantern, a gas stove, lighters, gas in the car (no electricity means no gas pumps), and plenty of shelf stable food. In fact, the only thing we didn't have that I would have really liked was a generator. A friend of ours did have one, though, and he let us charge our cell phones which was soooo helpful as the cell phones and the radio were the only way we had to get any information.
By Thursday morning, officials were saying it would take 5-7 days to restore power and that school would be canceled until at least Tuesday. With no work or school to go to, we decided that taking a road trip would be a lot more fun than sitting around waiting for the power to come back on, so we packed our bags and headed to North Carolina, our old stomping grounds, to visit Uncle Tim and Aunt Cami.
It is amazing how fast a family of 6 can get out of the house when there is no power. All those things we usually do before a trip--shopping, washing clothes, getting gas, etc--were unavailable, so we just put some clothes in our bags, left plenty of food for the cat, and took off. Later I realized I should have supervised the boys packing a little more, as both of them brought the dregs of their wardrobes and forgot socks, but it was not a big deal. We were refugees so we could afford to look a little ragged and smelly.
We had a great weekend in NC. On Saturday, we took the family to Carowinds--a large amusement park right by our old house. The last time we were there, none of the kids had been old enough to ride any of the big rides. This time, 3/4 of them had a blast screaming their heads off on all the rollercoasters. Bryce wasn't tall enough for the biggest rides, and was pretty scared on others, but he did find a few that he liked.
On Sunday, we visited with some good friends that we haven't seen in years. The Windhams were like family when we lived in NC, and we had a great time catching up with them. Natalie was especially sad when it was time to go. She and Catherine still have a lot in common, and hope to see each other at BYU in just a couple of years.
Monday I wanted to take the kids to Old Salem, while Mark worked from Tim's house, but it was closed. Bummer. So, we went to SciWorks instead, which was not quite as exciting, but we got a discount on our admission after mentioning we were refugees from the Alabama tornadoes. We also heard from our friends at home that the power was back on. It was time to head back.
School started up again on Wednesday and we have not yet heard if the kids will have to make up the four days they missed or not. They have already had to make up several snow days this year. We had a great time visiting Tim and Cami and seeing their new house (which we filled to capacity) and were very grateful for their hospitality. We also are all coming out of the experience more thankful for all of our blessings; for electricity, a home, food, and especially for our safety.
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