The Tornado of '85

I can remember that day (May 31, 1985) as if it were yesterday.  First of all, it was the last day of school and the last day of first grade for me!  The whole summer was ahead.  I would get to play with all my toys, my friends, and even the tadpoles we had in my fish bowl.

But, it was not to be.

I remember coming home from school and my dad was the only parent home.  Mom was at a doctor's appointment.  He fixed us supper, and then as he has for years, he sad down to watch the 5:00 news and the 5:30 Weather.  Both were talking about strong storms with the possibility of tornados heading our way. Dad didn't seem worried...but to my 7 year old mind, this was scary.

I was deathly afraid of thunderstorms.  We lived in an old house that needed the electric wiring updated.  Whenever it would lightning close by the house, sparks would often shoot out of some of our outlets.  I remember Dad and Grandpa working on it several times, but it never seemed to fix the problem.

Well, just as had been predicted, it started to rain, then it started to storm.  My sister and I begged Dad to take us to Grandma's house.  They outlets didn't spark there.  I guess he wanted to wait for Mom to get home since he stalled quite a bit.  Finally, though, he said we could go.

Just as we were getting into the car, mom pulled up and got directly out from her car to the one we were in.  We headed to Grandma's.

Grandma had the weather on TV...she never watched the weather.  I was scared and knew something was going on.  I don't remember the station, but I do remember the voice of the lady who was the weather reporter.  Something about her voice scared me....even when she was talking about good weather (on other occasions) her voice scared me.

After a while, I remember Dad calling us to the back door.  We looked out and saw boards and trash flying through the air.  You would have thought we would have known it was a tornado, but something about that amused us.  It started to get dark, and my Uncle and Aunt came over too.  Once it was dark, the electricity went out.  Then just as quickly, it would come on again.  I remember Grandma holding me on her lap and we'd pretend that we were traveling and the blinking lights (and lightning) were the oncoming cars.  It must have worked because I felt a little safer.

Somewhere through that evening, my other Grandparents who lived just a few blocks away came over.  They had heard there was a tornado on our side of town and when they couldn't get us on the phone, they decided to see if we were at my other Grandma's house.

It must have been pretty late, but I remember Mom, my Sister, and I walking to my other Grandparents' house where we would spend the night.  Dad and my Uncle walked to our house to see what had happened.  I guess by then, word had spread that you couldn't drive.

Mom kept trying to put my Sister and me to sleep, but I couldn't sleep.  What had been a scary night was now an "adventure" for my 7 year old mind.  We were "camping" on my Grandparents' floor...did life get better than that???  I think my sister fell asleep, but I was awake when Dad came and said the house was destroyed.  I don't remember much in the way of emotion.  I was too little to fully understand what that meant...maybe I thought he could just fix it.  I don't remember Mom's reaction, or even how Dad acted.  But, sometime in the midst of all this, I fell asleep.

I woke up the next morning and it was cold!  The gas to the whole town had been shut off to check for leaks, and electricity was sporadic at best.

My Sister and I must have stayed with my Grandparents when Mom went over to see the house.  I don't remember much.  But, I do remember her coming back and telling us that she would take us to see the house and she tried to explain to me and my Sister (who was 4) that it was destroyed.

We went over to see the house, and like she said, it was destroyed.  Days run together in my mind, but I remember going through lots of emotions.  At first, it was an adventure.  We "got" to look through the yard to find our toys.  Then another day, I was angry.  Grandma gave me an empty milk jug to "beat up."  I remember pretending it was the tornado and kicking and throwing it and screaming, laughing, and crying.

I hope I never go through that again!  And my thoughts and prayers are with all who are currently suffering from the damage of tornados and natural disasters and all those who will someday face them.