I know it has been awhile since I wrote again, but at least I am doing it now! As some of you know, we had some pretty nasty weather this afternoon around here. And it is only March! But we live in Nebraska. Anyways, Breck started Girls on the Run at school last week. They get together every Monday and Wednesday and the girls run, obviously, but also learn about self-esteem and just have fun together. So, they stay after school and get picked up at 4:30. At 4:20 this afternoon, the sirens in town start going off. I watch the news and we are right in the middle of a tornado warning. I decide to go to school and get Breck so she isn't scared to death. Maybe not the best decision, but I didn't want her freaking out without me. So, Braydon and I walk in the school and someone tells we need to get to the office. I ask where the girls are and I am told they are in the Fourth Grade pod. We go down there to wait it out with Breck and the other girls. The coaches have the girls lying on their back on the floor doing some relaxation breathing and some yoga to keep them all calm. Some of them are crying anyway. I find Breck and see she is actually doing OK, so I let her be. Meanwhile, the wind is howling like crazy and the rain and hail are pounding against the building. The coach is reading of colors to picture in their minds and what they mean. She comes to the color red and says, "You are safe and strong." Braydon is behind me and whispers in my ear, "I am not safe or strong." And then he asks, "Can I cry?" I tell him we are in a safe spot. For about an hour the coaches keep the girls occupied and about 5:30 we get the all clear. We go outside to the car and it is still raining pretty hard, so we are all wet. I notice a big water tank leaning up against the school, so I point it out to the kids and say, "Look at what the wind did. It blew that big tank up against the school building." When we get in the car, Braydon says, "I don't care if I am wet, I am just glad to be alive!" Leave it to Braydon. We drive home past a couple blown over sheds and mailboxes. I see there are a couple of branches blown into the street, so I pull into the garage and go out to get the branches. When I go past the back of my car, my driver's side taillight is pretty much gone and I have a ginormous dent in my quater panel! Apparently that big water tank blew across the whole parking lot and hit my car on the way to the school! As you see from the pictures, it was quite a big tank and quite a dent! But as Braydon would say, I didn't care about the dent, I was just glad to be alive!
Breck told me when we got home that she was scared and "some tears came to my eyes." She also said her heart was pounding really fast. She looked so calm and in control. Poor little girl! When Josh got home, we went back to school to take pictures of the tank (in case we needed them for insurance) and found the pieces of the taillight all over the yard of the school! It was definitely an exciting afternoon!
