Tornado Warning

This is an email I sent to my family the other night that Melody said needed to be put on the blog for general consumption. It gives you a pretty good picture of the personality differences under our roof. :)

 

 

I wish you all could have seen the activity and discussion that ensued when Jess called and told us there is a 30% chance of tornados in our area tonight. Morgan just said it low key, and none of the kids got excited immediately, but they were thinking about it I guess.

Morgan went out to check the storm cellar (for snakes I presume) and when he came back in Sadie asked us "What about my book? My library book! Because I don't want to have to tell Mrs. Waldrip that my library book is in my house but I don't know where my house is!"

A few minutes later, Shane came into the kitchen with a bundle of things and plopped them down, announcing "these are the things I would need." We said "For special meeting tomorrow?" He said "No, for the storm shelter!" I got SO tickled when I looked at his stack; a trumpet (playing us all a tune in cramped quarters to keep us entertained while the tornado passes?), his bb gun, a canteen full of water, his chaps, a blanket,coat, gloves, hatchet, knife, a pair or jeans and bog boots. He said he could change into them once we got there. Mr. Prepared. As the girls are saying how much they are hoping there isn't a tornado, he is secretly hoping there is because it sounds like a real life survival outing.

Here's the funny thing about Shane. Maybe you don't all know that Shane told me years ago that he has two ways to shower. A regular shower and a "special occasion" shower. The latter is used if there is something special going on the next day. He will take his favorite underwear to change into and do an EXTRA good job of scrubbing. So, he showers tonight and when he comes back, Morgan and I are tucking the girls in and he plops on the bed with us. He says "I took a a special occasion shower. I cleaned my ears, cleaned my toenails, put balm on my cracked knuckles...and weighed myself. 82 pounds." I asked if it is because of special meeting tomorrow or the chance of a tornado. His eyes twinkled and he said "both". :)

Ivey was a lot more casual about it. She said "Here is what I would need" and plopped two photo albums down on the table. One Memop had made her and one Aunt Deedee made her years ago. She said she would take blankie too. Then she asked "would the bank give us back our money if we lost it?" I said not if it wasn't in the bank.She said "What?! You mean we don't have insurance on our money?!" and proceeded to grab her money and add it to the stack. Later, I heard her tell Shane in a motherly tone "There's only 30% chance, Shane." She wasn't going to get too worked up about it. :)

As they were going to bed there were lots of "I love you! If there's a tornado I want the last thing you hear me say to be "I love you!" from the kids. Sweet.

As Sadie drifted off she said "I hope there ISN"T a tornado. If there is, please wake me up." Sure thing, sweetie. :)

As Shane went to his room he quietly announced that he had added my purse and his bible to his stack of things to grab if we had to make a dash for the cellar. We thought his stack was made of things he wanted to take to the shelter to wait out the storm. He clarified they were things he would not want to lose if the house blew away.

You are all welcome to analyze my childrens' personalities by their response to a tornado warning. :) We were so tickled. I am sure I haven't captured half of the hilarity of their expressions or tones of voices, but had to share a bit of the evening with you. They weren't scared or panicky....just resolute about what needed done in case. And I think Shane might be disappointed if we wake in the morning and there hasn't been a midnight run to the storm shelter. :)

 

The end of this story is that there was no tornado, there was no rain, there was just strong wind. The girls were relieved there was no tornado and it took Shane a few days to get over the fact that we almost had a real adventure but didn't. He said "I wouldn't want the damage of a tornado, but it would be so cool if one came close and we had to get in the shelter." Mama disagrees.