Tuesday, May 24, 2011

back home, safely

We ended up not in the neighbor's shelter. They lovingly invited three families and when the sirens went off we decided that we were better off going to the hospital, whose lower level is a community storm shelter.

The real reason we left the neighbor's house is because I read The Hater's mind and he was going to be all heroic and insist on everybody else getting into the shelter and then there wouldn't have been room for him. That's simply not acceptable. The storm sirens started, the news said we were in the clear for the moment, and I looked at him and said, "If we're going to go we need to do it RIGHT NOW." The Hater flew. We made a seven minute drive in about three minutes.

It was hot and muggy and smelled like a combo of rotten BO and wet dog at the hospital (because people bring their animals, too). We stayed down there for a while before I decided to try to take us into my office and hang out there where it was cooler and less crowded. It's next to a stairwell and we figured between the tv and our battery operated radio, if the news said to seek shelter we could just go downstairs with everybody else.

It was a good decision. Baby was about done in the basement. In my office she had a little more room to play with way less stimulation. We stayed hidden in a small room because we wanted to stay incognito and avoid being told to go back downstairs.

We waited until this part of town was clear and came back home. All of the houses in our neighborhood (and on this side of town) are okay. Some surrounding communities were not as fortunate. It'll probably be morning before they know how bad the damage is in the state.

The Hater was very good and didn't complain at all about the bag I packed to take with us. I had medicine, diapers, wipes, PJs for Baby, two changes of clothes for Baby, her baby and banket, a few books, cell phone charger, my wallet, three bottles of water, a box of protein bars, and a small box of baby treats. Tonight he's Husband of the Year.

4 comments:

Cerulean Bill said...

No lie.

I am so glad that you are all safe.

Anonymous said...

Ditto here. This has been quite a year thus far. Take care. Polly

~lifedramatic~ said...

Glad to hear that you're safe. I have friends in Weatherford who also made it through ok.

XO,

Charlene

Anonymous said...

Glad you made it okay. I got to use my cellar. My kids and grand kids came over as well as a couple of neighbors. We had a little party, a tornado/get to know each other party.