A scary ride home

Friday was a wonderful evening, we got together with family to celebrate my wife's first sale and also my little sister getting accepted into college in Georgia to study environmental conservation. We had a nice dinner at Sonny's BBQ, a personal favorite of mine, and up till this point the evening was going great. After we finished eating, we paid and went outside and that is when the "fun" began...

We came out and people were standing in the parking lot, staring into the sky. I was confused at first till I saw the little spout coming out of the clouds. We all looked at it for a few moments till my mother chimed in with maybe we should get heading home. Unfortunately home was straight into this massive black storm with these little finger reaching for the ground.

We got started heading that way and everyone in the car was a little nervous. Especially my son Blaine who at 7, is afraid of his own shadow. As we drive we see that spout recess back into the cloud, and stretch down again. Then I looked to the right and seen another spout, it was much larger and growing fairly quickly.

This one was a little more menacing looking and had me starting to get a little nervous. I cracked a couple of jokes to my 7 year old to try to ease the tension a little bit. That was about the same time that the radio started shouting and ear piercing sound and the emergency broadcast came on. "There has been a tornado reported in Southern Orange County. The severe thunderstorms are capable of producing tornados without warning. If you are in the forecasted area seek shelter immediately."

The phones went off with this message and then I starting to feel a lot of panic. What am I going to do if a tornado formed near us, being in the car? I couldn't let my wife and kids know I was scared, as the father you've got to stay strong. The family looks to you for strength and support when they are afraid, if they see that your panicking then their fears will multiply. So I put on a façade, knowing that we would be home soon.

This was the sky right before we turned off the main road into our neighborhood. The funnel had gotten a lot larger but still wasn't touching the ground. At this point I knew we were only 3 minutes from the house and almost to safety and security. My mother had called me at some point around there and said that her, my brother and sister were just going to go to my house because it would be safer. When I pulled in the driveway my nerves were instantly at ease. We put the children in the small bedroom, with no windows, to sleep. The adults hunkered in the living room, glued to the television, watching the news to see any updates. The tornado watch continued for about 30 minutes after we got home, with no events, just a lot of worrying.

This was quite the experience for all of us and whether or not we want to admit it , we were all scared. Also this showed me that in Florida hurricanes are not the only thing you have to worry about. Now, my oldest son is fascinated with tornados, insisting on watching videos and movies about them. This past Friday is definitely a day that I will not soon forget.

As always, thank you for taking the time to read my post. I hope
you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
Thank You.