Tornado Warning

I forced my heavy eyelids open when I heard Christian's voice.  "Come on, hon.  Let's go."  It took a moment for me to register that he was already out of bed.  I made the unfortunate decision to go to bed at 11:45 last night, because I was enjoying the quiet of the night (and I had blog reading and Facebook updates to catch up on).  I sat up and realized that he was holding Kaitlyn, and at the same time I realized the tornado siren was blaring.  I wondered what time it was as I slipped my pajama pants on.  The boys came out of their rooms the same time I did, and we all went down to the basement to wait out the tornado warning.  The boys were overly excited despite it being two o'clock in the morning.  They wouldn't stop talking, and kept interrupting each other to tell stories (about school, about the Skylanders video game).  I was too tired and worried to really pay attention, but I knew they had this need to talk, so I let them.  Christian had his cell phone and was checking the weather, and he was really quiet.  He gets really quiet and really focused in stressful situations.

I realized I didn't have my glasses on, and everything was fuzzy around me.  Aidan was in his underwear and nothing else, since it was so warm when he went to bed last night.  I knew we had our 72 hour kits in the furnace room in the basement, and we had blankets if we needed them.  But I realized we didn't have shoes, and I haven't put diapers for Kaitlyn in the 72 hour kit, and all of these thoughts were swirling around in my head as the siren continued to wail.  The lights flickered at one point, and I knew we didn't have any flashlights in the basement (besides the crank radio/flashlight in the 72 hour kit.) The siren didn't stop for ten full minutes, and the tornado warning was lifted shortly afterward.  We waited in the basement for a few more minutes, but when the radar on the weather app on Christian's phone showed us that the large red-colored cell had passed us, we felt safe enough to go back upstairs. 

I rocked Kaitlyn in the rocking chair in her room while I sang lullabies to her.  Within minutes, her head was bobbing on my arm.  I put her in her crib and went back to bed, where I Facebooked about our "adventure."  Aidan promptly fell asleep, but Ethan came back into our room after a little while because the wind was still pretty loud.  I let him slide into bed with me, and he finally calmed down enough to fall asleep.

Part of me wondered whether this is something that happens semi-frequently, like every time the weather is severe they turn on the tornado siren as a precaution.  But I learned that in the ten years since our neighbors moved here, this is only the second time this has happened.  And we also learned that the wind has to be confirmed at 70 mph or higher, and that they saw "hooks" on the forecast that easily could have turned into tornados.

This morning at 9:20 AM, the siren went off again for 30 seconds.  Even though the weather is nice right now, it scared me.  I'm not sure whether it was a glitch, or whether the county does that the morning afterward to make sure everything is working properly.  But hello - trigger alert!  I went back down to the basement anyway, clutching Kaitlyn, and shook slightly as I called Christian at work to help calm and center me.

Next, I'm off to the store to update our 72 hour kits, and I will be filling the five gallon water jug I have had for a year that has been sitting empty in the basement.  All is well, everyone is fine.  I'm glad we had this experience, and that nothing bad came of it, so that I can recognize what I need to do to feel more prepared if there is a "next time."