Tornadoes and Other Disasters

Have you ever seen a tornado up close? I haven't, but yesterday evening and today, I came as close to that as I'll ever get, except for one summer day when I was a kid (more about that later...).

Hubby and I were vegging on the couch in the living room, looking out the patio door from time to time. Suddenly the room became darker than usual--a rather eerie pink colour--and the trees appeared backlit. Their tops were swaying so violently that I was glad the big old maple tree in our neighbour's back yard had already been cut down. Just as suddenly as the wind began, it stopped. Now there was an ominous black cloud, almost like a shelf, that showed up in the sky. Moments later, there was another huge gust of wind.

It reminded me of the summer days many years ago when a tornado cut a swathe through the countryside near my parents' house. My father had been in the process of installing a picture window on the north wall of the house when a warning came over the radio that a tornado was on its way. He barely had time to find a large sheet of plywood before the wind began. We kids and Dad struggled mightily to hold the plywood in place, but before we even realized it, perhaps only minutes later, the tornado had passed by. I still remember the negative pressure literally bending that sheet inwards; it was the scariest moment of my life up till then. Afterwards, we learned that we had been very fortunate. Although an old shed had blown down, no living thing was hurt, unlike the many farmers north of us who saw dozens of cattle and pigs die under collapsed silos and barn roofs.

Today I witnessed a natural disaster of another kind, the kind that can tear apart families. I am hoping that, like the trees in our back yard, we can bend enough to survive the destructive winds....