We've been having a lot of off the wall weather down here lately and today was no different. Last week we had 9 inches of rain fall in about a 4 hour period, We've had 3 hailstorms that I swear to you, have produced egg sized to racquet ball sized hail and today we had a tornado. It ripped a path about 20 yards wide for the length of our road which is about 1/4 miles long with it touching down in the trees that are 20 yards behind my house
It hit directly behind my house while my son and I were outside. We heard it start to rain and I knew the truck windows were down so Steven and I ran outside to roll them up (this is before it hit). Granted it was drizzling at this point. I rolled up the drivers side and he went to roll up the passenger side. By that time it was coming down pretty hard so he just stayed in the truck to wait it out. Within 20 second, I swear to you, there was 3 inches of rain in my carport, I could no longer see my truck that was less than 12 feet from me, trees were snapping in my back yard, and his basketball goal with 200 lbs of weight in the base that's right next to the truck was moved a good 25 feet and toppled over. The truck was moving and at this point I was scared shitless so I ran to the truck, grabbed Steven and made it to the door (sliding the whole way) and got inside.
When the storm was over about 10 minutes later, I went out to observe the damage. Guttering torn off, siding torn off, privacy fence around the pool was gone, trees snapped in half, and that was just my house. I spent the next 4 hours helping neighbors saw and move a large tree that was blocking our road (a dead end road thankfully), putting back fences, gathering animals, and helping whoever needed help.
You don't think things like this could happen to you, but they can. When I got Steven out of the truck, the wind was moving us and not our feet. The only thing going through my mind was "Please don't let anything happen to my son" because I was scared to death the wind was going to take us away.
I've always tried to be a good Dad, I always support Steven and let him know I love him, but for some reason, he means a little bit more to me tonight. You never know when your day or God forbid, your child's day will come so make sure that your family always knows what they mean to you because you don't know if you'll get that chance to be able to let them know again. I know this gets said a lot, but when it happenes to you and not someone else, it takes on a whole new meaning.
Whatever you do, tell your wife, children, and whoever else makes your life bright, that you love them tonight.
It hit directly behind my house while my son and I were outside. We heard it start to rain and I knew the truck windows were down so Steven and I ran outside to roll them up (this is before it hit). Granted it was drizzling at this point. I rolled up the drivers side and he went to roll up the passenger side. By that time it was coming down pretty hard so he just stayed in the truck to wait it out. Within 20 second, I swear to you, there was 3 inches of rain in my carport, I could no longer see my truck that was less than 12 feet from me, trees were snapping in my back yard, and his basketball goal with 200 lbs of weight in the base that's right next to the truck was moved a good 25 feet and toppled over. The truck was moving and at this point I was scared shitless so I ran to the truck, grabbed Steven and made it to the door (sliding the whole way) and got inside.
When the storm was over about 10 minutes later, I went out to observe the damage. Guttering torn off, siding torn off, privacy fence around the pool was gone, trees snapped in half, and that was just my house. I spent the next 4 hours helping neighbors saw and move a large tree that was blocking our road (a dead end road thankfully), putting back fences, gathering animals, and helping whoever needed help.
You don't think things like this could happen to you, but they can. When I got Steven out of the truck, the wind was moving us and not our feet. The only thing going through my mind was "Please don't let anything happen to my son" because I was scared to death the wind was going to take us away.
I've always tried to be a good Dad, I always support Steven and let him know I love him, but for some reason, he means a little bit more to me tonight. You never know when your day or God forbid, your child's day will come so make sure that your family always knows what they mean to you because you don't know if you'll get that chance to be able to let them know again. I know this gets said a lot, but when it happenes to you and not someone else, it takes on a whole new meaning.
Whatever you do, tell your wife, children, and whoever else makes your life bright, that you love them tonight.
