Some Things You Don't Forget

I was working in a small town in Central Texas. It wasn't a large project, and it wasn't terribly far away, so we worked Monday through Friday and came home on the weekends.

The weather caught my attention. Thunderstorms of unbelievable size, and fury, were a daily occurrence in the distance. I'd never seen such huge, billowing clouds that stretched into the stratosphere. My only reaction was awe. Even though I'd been exposed to thunderstorm my entire life, I'd never seen anything that compared to what I was observing.

One night, at about 1:00 am, I awoke, when the power went out. The deep darkness was broken by constant lightning. Not a second passed without a flash and the continuous, bright flashes would have allowed reading newspaper.

The motel manager walked through the parking lot and spoke to those that were standing outside. A tornado warning was issued and the storm was forecast to continue to our location.

I watched until the tremendous downdraft hit. I stepped back into my room and waited.

As I waited, I wondered about the tornado. Where was it? Was it wrapped by the heavy downpour, filled with small hail? Was this it? Would my life end when the motel was ripped apart?

My answer was soon to arrive: the tornado lifted back into the clouds and the storm eventually passed without any damage.

The following morning was clear, and the only indication of the storm were a few puddles in the parking lot. News reports revealed only minor damage to outbuildings in the surrounding countryside. Nobody was injured and nobody died.

I've seen tornadoes, although they've always been the small storms, or waterspouts, found along the coast. They cause damage, but the winds are far from the horrendous 200 mph plus winds in an E4, or E5 tornado.  I can't imagine such an event and don't want to ever have it part of my memories.

So, I've wandered all around the gut wrenching feeling of knowing parents are mourning the injury and death of the their children in Oklahoma. I can only offer prayers at this point, and they seem woefully insubstantial to the horrors they endured.