Storms hit Southwest Missouri - again

Yesterday morning started warm, too warm. I turned on the telly switching back and forth between 3 and 10. A wall of red was north of me and a wall of red was entering Missouri from Kansas to the south. I knew if I left, right then, I could get to campus before the storm hit. Once on the road, I made a brief pit stop at McD's for my mocha and a bacon, egg and cheese McGriddle. The traffic was a pain leaving Buffalo. Everybody was sight seeing the clouds that were rolling in from the west. Every five minutes, I said, "Please, just let me get to campus. Just hold out til I get on the lot. And please take care of my boys." I hit a few LARGE drops of rain between Fair Grove and Diamond K. It sounded almost like hail hitting the windows. The drops were brief. Almost, as if, taunting me. Once again, I would repeat my previous chant. At Fair Grove, I hauled butt to Springfield. I know that on a good day, I can make it from Fair Grove to Springfield between 10 and 15 minutes. I made sure, even with the increasing wind speed, that it was a good day. I was in the left hand running my usual speed. I slipped past a lot of traffic and once in Springfield, slid into the right lane and up the ramp at Division. I got through town fairly quickly and to the OTC campus. I started to park in my usual spot under a tree on the south side of the lot. I changed my mind as I looked at the tree which had been split earlier, most likely by the ice storm. The sky was the most eery green. Somebody on the radio compared it to pea soup and I agreed with them. I remember reading a few days earlier that the color of a green sky most likely meant tornadoes or at the very least, severe storms. I changed parking spots and proceeded towards the door. As I got halfway across the parking lot, the storm sirens in Springfield started blaring. I continued inside. I went to my normal spot and sat down. In a few minutes everybody was evacuated to the hallway where I was. I texted Steve to keep him apprised of what was going on. From my spot, where I sat rooted, I could see the trees outside whip and dance; touching the ground at times. I felt most of the younger kids around me were really not taking this seriously. Some even tried to leave. Later, I heard one say, "That was the longest tornado drill I have ever been through."


So, once we were released and back in class, I heard about Fair Grove. I immediately started texting Marilyn and Terri checking on some of Colton's YHEC teammates. Little did I know that Colton, himself, was in the path of the tornado. As I went through my day, Colton was experiencing being caught, away from Mema, by himself, in the storm.

When I got home, Mom told me about the excitement they had at Nanny's earlier in the day. At my house, we were lucky and didn't experience the really bad weather; just downpours, flooding and some wind. Dad kept Paden calm. So calm in fact, he slept through the worst of it.

BUT...Colton, well he had a little more excitement than that. My uncle, as some know used to have a small engine shop. Well, Colton goes down to the shop usually when he goes out to Grandma's with mom and he piddles and tinkers down there. You know, boy stuff? Well he had came to the house and checked in and decided to go back. It was raining but not real hard...yet. He made it back to the shop and then all hell broke loose. It started pouring. Mom said at first it was from the east. She knows this because she had to go shut the glass on Grandma's screen door. Then just as quick as it came from the east it switched to the the south. Mom could not see across the parking lot to the shop. Colton couldn't see Mom's car parked about 15 feet away from him. He watched the rain for awhile, then we he watched it spin in what he calls a mini tornado on the parking lot he backed away from the door.

Around that time a car appeared at the front door of the shop. Colton peeked outside and let a woman in. Her car had apparently been blown into the ditch. She shoved it in reverse and backed out of the ditch. Barry's driveway was the first that she seen and she actually thought it was a highway (because it's paved). She asked Colton if he was alone and he told her, "No, Redly is here with me." Red is my Uncle Terry's Redtick Coon Hound. He has been Colton's protector since Colton was a baby. Red used to walk across the field daily to check on Colton when he played in the backyard when we lived out that way. Red is now really old, about 15. He has been hit twice by cars, that we know of. He limps...a lot. He can't see out of one eye. He's basically deaf. But he still thinks he can protect Colton. Well, anyway, I guess it proceeded to be pretty bad. They tried to figure out where they could hide. The decided on the hallway and found a piece of plywood to put over the top of them. When the rain and wind let up, they made a dash for her car and drove to the front gate. Mom and Grandma said they were both scared to death when they got to the house.

Being a mom I said, "Colton, you got in a car with a perfect stranger." Calmly he looked at me and said, "Mom, we'd been through a tornado together. I figured it would be alright." He also assured me she wasn't a "perfect" stranger because she lived down the street from his uncle that drives a gray pickup. She was Bonnie Strickland's neice and she was related to Uncle Ray. That made her family in his eyes. Besides that, she had a 13 year old, an eight year old and a four year old.

After watching the news last night, I realized how close both of us had came. If I hadn't have left when I did, I would have been caught in it in Springfield. Or, if I had decided to skip my English class because it was optional yesterday, I would have been right in the middle of it at Fair Grove. Either way, God was looking out for all of us yesterday.