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This Crazy Oklahoma weather

I have mentioned the weather before in a post it was when we got loaded up with snow(i love snow)  but today was spring weather in OK.  I HATE spring weather in Oklahoma.  I can handle tons of snow, blistering hot summer days and the other mess we get all year long, what I can not handle (or not well anyway) is spring weather.  The entire months of April and May scare the crap out of me.  Thunderstorms not really a big deal, I can sit and listen to the rain and thunder and have fun counting to see how far away the storm is.  All good until...the weather man says TORNADO (warning, watch, low clouds, rotation...)  I turn into a complete basket case.  I try so hard to be tough and not afraid while around my girls, but just today while we were watching to see what these storms were going to be doing, Val turns to me and says "mom...you are scared, I can see it in your eyes"   What, no Im fine Vallie.  "dont lie mom I can see it.  its ok to be scared"   Crazy how they know things you don't want them to know.  Truth is yes I was scared.  All evening I was freaking out, trying not to think about the weather (when its all everyone around me was talking about)  I was literally sick to my stomach. (yes that is how crazy scared I get when they are talking tornados)  With good reason, April 26 1991(yes I know that was "like so long ago")  We were home, normal spring day, it was so nice out that afternoon.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  We had just been at the grocery store and someone was telling my mom that her yard was the prettiest on the block. (my parents truly loved their yard)  short mowed grass, flowers growing in beds around all the little trees dad had worked so hard on.  It was cool hearing someone say that about our yard.  Anyway we got home, dad was watching the weather.  There was going to be some storms and he was watching the news(channel 6 no less)  they were using new technology(pathfinder) to track where they thought the storms were going to be heading.  (turns out the new pathfinder technology was spot on)  they said the storms would be there at 9:0something  and darn it if they weren't right.  In the rush of all of us kinda freaking out. (this was our new house, just built for my family a couple years before..just our luck right...new house, key tornado.)   Dad tells us to get in the car we are going to go to Dennis and Theresa's house to get in the cellar.  we pile in the car(after scrambling for shoes jackets and such) and he is backing out of the driveway and stops.  "what is going on why are you stopping"  he pulled back into the drive and pulls the car as far into the garage as he could get it and yells at us "it's to late to leave, get inside and go into the bathroom"  we hurry out and back inside the house.  we pile into the tiny bathroom and he throws blankets pillows and even a mattress in on top of us.  (at this point I start screaming..."speckles!  dad she is outside, you have to go get her!--which he did) we are all in the bathroom, except dad who like many other Oklahomans was standing on the front porch waiting to see it coming.  Lightning struck what may have been the house, knocked him down and then he too came into the bathroom with us as the tornado smached through our neighborhood.  For what seemed like forever(only like 2 and a half minutes) we were all crying and praying at the same time.  We were spared, our house not so much.  Grandma lived on the next block over her house was also hit and demolished.  Everything after that was really kinda crazy living with family until a new house could be built and such.  But this, this is why I get crazy when they mention tornados on the weather.  That Oklahoma weather changed me forever.  Wow that was a crazy night(crazy how well it has stuck in my brain) Maybe it isn't how everyone else remembered it, but hey this is my blog. If you remember this event, please post a comment, I would like to see how you recount the day.
Well, thats all I have for tonight.  Enjoy the weather...you know what they say..."if you don't like the weather in Oklahoma, wait a minute it will change"  have a great day.  lots of love.  :)

Comments

  1. I remember that day well! we were living in Claremore in an apartment on the very northwest side of town- kept watching and watching and then all of the sudden, the biggest, greenest-black cloud I had ever seen in my life popped up- even though the damage was to northwest of us- that cloud came all the way down to where we were at- the sirens went off and we went south to friends to ride it out- as we looked back into town we could see how bad it was when the lightening flashed. It was awful!

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