With all the storms that have been coming through, I have been thinking back to when I was younger. Have I ever been in a tornado? Then I remembered one of the scariest family vacations that we were taking. Of all the vacations to write about, I would talk about one where I was completely scared during. Oh well, it’s really one of the most memorable trips that we undertook.
We lived in Michigan at the time, and for some reason, my parents thought it would be a good idea to take me, 4, and my brother, 9, on a road trip to visit our grandparents in Oklahoma. 18 hours in a car with two kids who fight all the time? Bad news. And to top it all off, we were driving in storms. So, I only really remember the actual drive down to Oklahoma, and the rest of the trip… who knows how it went.
When we were on the road, driving and trying to beat the storm before it got too bad, there was a moment when the sky just went from the sun setting to completely dark and creepy colored. If I remember correctly, it seemed as though there was an orange-tint to it. We had the radio on and then of course the National Weather Alert came on saying that everyone needed to get off the roads immediately and find shelter. Being little, I was completely terrified when my parents started to sound worried when they pointed out the huge funnel cloud directly in front of us.
After that, I just remember us going to the closest hotel we could find and sitting in their lobby watching the news for any updates. I believe the tornado hit a few towns away, and I just recall being so afraid. It’s funny because I can’t remember my birthday parties from when I was that young, or what TV shows I liked to watch, but I can remember some car ride. It’s strange how our memory is so vivid when we are terrified.
