Good Times

[PhuturePriest]

Someone asked me to write this, so I decided I would. I hope you enjoy it. I don't think I can fit it all in one post, so please don't post until the second half is posted.

We were driving on the two-lane highway early in the morning on May 4, 2007. We were driving to Garden City, Kansas, to meet my aunt to have lunch with her. It was hot, and anxiety levels ran especially high that day. My dad had a restaurant, and countless storm spotters were coming through and telling him in detail how we were in the biggest tornado threat in a very long time. We were "prime for super cells", according to them. We got to driving back home after lunch, and it was apparent to my mother that I was very concerned over all of this, and she said "Miles, don't worry about it. Our house has been standing for almost one hundred years. We will be fine."

At about seven that night, we had pizza and my dad took us out storm spotting. We saw so many powerful funnel clouds all over. It was very frightening for me, though my dad couldn't get enough of it. They were literally all over, and we couldn't count them all. After half an hour to an hour of begging, he finally gave in and drove us back into town. He went to take care of some last minute things across the street and talked to some people, and I paced all over the house in anxiety. I was certain we were going to be hit, despite my mother's promise to me. Nothing in the world would make me think differently, even if God himself told me we were going to be fine. I knew that we were in trouble, and nobody could convince me.

My father finally came home, and he directed my brother and I (My sister was out of town for that Friday) to clean the basement. My brother started cleaning it, but my eyes were glued to the weather on the television. Meteorologist Merrill Teller of the KWCH weather team had interrupted the television show, and it would be interrupted for over an hour. It was just that serious of a storm. He said the storm might go in between our town and the town ten miles away, but there was a chance it might swing towards us. My brother told me I should start cleaning, and that our parents would be angry, but I said "If a tornado hits the house, I doubt they will care if it was dirty." It was around that time when the sirens went off and my parents came down. Sure enough, they were angry with me, and they started picking up the trash with us as they watched the weather. Merrill Teller said that it looked like the tornado was going to come our way, and to take shelter. "Get in your shelter. This is not a tornado warning, this is a tornado emergency!" he said urgently. The sirens had been going off for an astonishing twenty minutes, and we decided it was time to get into our basement bathroom. We somehow crammed all four of us and two dogs in it, and we waited.

It was about nine forty, and the sirens had been going off for thirty to forty minutes when we finally heard a deafening gust of wind hit the house. We crossed ourselves and started saying the Rosary, yelling as loud as we could, though we each barely heard each other. After about four minutes it stopped, and we cautiously opened the door. We saw all of the rain that was in our basement and our messed up furniture the wind had moved, and we stood there in awe. My brother then said "It doesn't feel right. My ears are still popping." My parents agreed, though I couldn't really tell, and we went back inside the bathroom. It wasn't thirty seconds when the deafening wind came back. We later realized it had stopped momentarily because we had been in the eye of the storm.

After four more minutes and almost an entire Rosary (It's funny how fast you say your Hail Mary's in those situations), we went into our backyard, or, that is, what was left of our backyard. Power lines were all over the place, and it was raining so hard. We went back in to get some coats on since it was so cold, and we ventured off to assess the situation.

[PhuturePriest]

Suddenly a man ran up to us and said "Go back inside! There's another tornado coming up the same path!" This certainly frightened me. "Where are we supposed to go? Our house probably can't last another one." My mother said. "Follow me." We followed him into the basement of the hotel across from us, and we saw all of the people there. It was funny, really. There was a Christian group on one side praying with each other, and on the other side there were people drinking beer and having a good time. We found our own little corner and started chatting with people, but nobody was really in the mood to speak, that is, except for the party people.

I was crouched down with my dad and said "I really think this next one is going to get us." He looked down at his ten year old son and said "Why would God put us through that just to let us die here?" That seemed to help as I didn't speak after that, but I was still terribly nervous about it.

Eventually after about twenty minutes we decided to take our leave and find our friends. We walked down our street to our friend's house about eight blocks away, and what should have been a twenty minute walk at the most took us well over an hour. There was so much debris and so much rain that it made it very difficult to get there. Finally, after a trip led only with the small flashlight on my dad's phone and the constant lightening, we arrived at the house. My dad walked in and called for him, and our friend replied "Come in." My dad couldn't help but reply "beaver dam it, Mike, this isn't a tea party, get out here!" He had been sitting on his chair and explained to us what happened on his side of the story. After about twenty minutes we decided to go back out and find our other friends, and maybe help people along the way. The whole night I couldn't stop the thought that I was going to see dead people that I knew. It was only a town of fourteen hundred people, and we knew everybody because of our job, and I didn't like the thought of seeing dead friends.

It didn't take us long to realize the tornado had completely destroyed the entire town, and after hours of finding people we eventually went back to our house to try and get some sleep at three in the morning. We saw our friends from the country at our house looking for us, and we spoke to them for a while. We then went back to sleep, though I don't think any of us were really tired after what happened. After a few hours we realized we wouldn't be able to, so we went back out. We were met in the front by a cop, telling us we had to get on a bus located at the store and leave. We weren't one hundred feet from our house when a lady in her van drove by and stopped. She got out and tried to grab our German Shepherd, Holly, and we ran back to see what she was doing. We learned she was from the vet and she was there to pick up animals. We asked her where she was from and she told us she was from Dodge City. Bingo. Dodge City was exactly the place we wanted to go as our family and my sister were all there and had been trying to find us, but were unable since the cops had sealed off the highway. We asked if she would take us back and she said she would be glad to, and we were on our way. It is a forty-two mile drive there, and it felt like it was an eternity. But, despite hitting a buck on the way, we did eventually reach there and she dropped us off in front of my grandmother's house. We came in and were just about attacked with hugs and an endless stream of questions. After hours of explanations and calling friends and family that had been trying to reach us all night, we tried to get some sleep in the morning, but no one was to get any sleep except for my brother, whom slept on the bed just about all day.

We spent that Saturday calling everyone we knew, assuring them we were all okay, and watching every news channel, even Fox News, filming everything all day long without stop. There were countless views from helicopters showing the entire town. 95% of the town had been destroyed, but only seven deaths were reported, though eventually others would die of injuries, making the total count thirteen. finally, we went to Mass at the cathedral. We know all of the Priests there, and I will never forget a young Father Tron (An immigrant from Vietnam) running up to us with a distraught look on his face. We told him just about everything and he went to get ready for Mass. After, we went back to my grandmother's house and met up with everyone, knowing our lives wouldn't be the same again. We had lost everything. All of the family photos, heirlooms, and things we had bought ourselves, were mostly gone and would never be found again. The tornado took away everything except one thing, and it was something we wouldn't let it take away, and that was each other.

[PhuturePriest]

Oh! I completely forgot! On the Saturday we learned the tornado was 1.7 miles wide, and it had peak winds of 311 miles per hour.

[AnneLine]

Wow, Miles... thank you for sharing your story.

I don't know many people who would be able to tell that story that well.

My prayers for you & your family.

Glad you are with us, too. Be safe.

Edited April 12, 2012 by AnneLine

[PhuturePriest]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm2-K6ttHYs

[Norseman82]

Actually, I thought of this:

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFKHg5CP7pk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFKHg5CP7pk[/url]

[dominicansoul]

ditto, norseman

i LOVE that show!

[Autumn Dusk]

That's sad to loose everything. I know what that's like, though the situation was very different.

New England winters may stink, but I am often grateful that we don't have that kind of weather.

Prayers all around

[PhuturePriest]

[quote name='Autumn Dusk' timestamp='1334325240' post='2416960']
That's sad to loose everything. I know what that's like, though the situation was very different.

New England winters may stink, but I am often grateful that we don't have that kind of weather.

Prayers all around
[/quote]

I would give anything to move to Europe. I hate the weather here. I often contemplate moving back to the motherland and dwelling in Ireland. Ireland is in need of good traditional Priests, right?

Speaking of that, even though I'm Irish, I don't have a razzle dazzle Irish name. O'Reilly, O'Malley, nothing razzle dazzle like that. Do you know what my Irish name is? Clemens.

Edited April 13, 2012 by FuturePriest387

[Autumn Dusk]

[quote name='FuturePriest387' timestamp='1334332083' post='2417014']
I would give anything to move to Europe. I hate the weather here. I often contemplate moving back to the motherland and dwell in Ireland. Ireland is in need of good traditional Priests, right?
[/quote]

You do know that [i]New [/i]England is no where near Europe, right?

I had someone from Arizona the other day say congrats on my ex-pat assignment. Pish. Westerners.

[PhuturePriest]

[quote name='Autumn Dusk' timestamp='1334332255' post='2417017']
You do know that [i]New [/i]England is no where near Europe, right?

I had someone from Arizona the other day say congrats on my ex-pat assignment. Pish. Westerners.
[/quote]

Well, though I did not see the "New" part, I still do not want to live in America.

Ex-Pat assignment? What on earth is that?

[Autumn Dusk]

[quote name='FuturePriest387' timestamp='1334332326' post='2417020']
Well, though I did not see the "New" part, I still do not want to live in America.

Ex-Pat assignment? What on earth is that?
[/quote]

America is much better than Europe as far as socalism and freedoms are being eroded much faster there...like gun posession and freedom to choose education. You can try places like Japan, but as far as countries getting messed up America is the hold out.

Ex-pat is short for ex-patriot. It means an American who works in another country.

Edited April 13, 2012 by Autumn Dusk

[Winchester]

At least you didn't have to fight through estrogen fog, amirite?

[Vincent Vega]

[quote name='Autumn Dusk' timestamp='1334332533' post='2417024']
Ex-pat is short for ex-patriot. It means an American who works in another country.
[/quote]
Or anyone who lives/works in a country which is not his own.

[ardillacid]

POWER AND GLORY