We're ok

If you haven't heard, there were some SERIOUS storms in the 'boro. We're alright, but many of my sweet friends have lost their homes and property. There were two fatalities, a mother and her 9 week old baby girl. Others critically injured, but it could have been so much worse. Thankfully it happened in the middle of the day and there was plenty of warning. Now, I know you're dying to know where we were during all this. You knew there had to be a story, right? I mean, this is me. I'm talking on the phone to my mom and told her I had a headache and was going to take a nap since I'd just laid the baby down for her nap. It was looking dark and rainy outside and I felt that would make for a good nap. I had not been watching TV all morning, so I had no idea there were storms in the area. My mom told me to turn on the tv b/c storms were coming. OK. 15 minutes later, Tanner came running into my bedroom out of breath saying, "Mom, are tornados always dark, or can they be white?" Either one...depends on how much debris they've picked up. "Well, I just saw one. It's about a mile from here. Hunter gets up and runs OUT of the house to see, and Tanner follows closely behind. I start throwing stuff out of the utility closet, get the baby up from her nap, round up the other two boys and get them all in the closet with the weather radio (that I don't know how to work) and go back outside to scream at my idiot sons who are standing in the driveway watching a 1/4 mile wide tornado pass by. I finally got them all in the closet and it was over in a few seconds. I don't know if it sounded like a train or not, because my kids wouldn't be quiet. "stop kicking me", "did you brush your teeth today?", "oh my gosh, who farted?" "It's hot in here, can we get out now?" "stop touching me"...,.I was ready to kick them all out to the driveway. The tornado passed less than a 1/4 mile from us. We didn't even have any limbs down, but our neighboring subdivision lost many houses. It's going to take a while to get everything cleaned up around here, so please pray for my friends and neighbors here in Tennessee. Chris and the boys have been out most of the day with chainsaws and trailers, cleaning up and hauling off brush and limbs and whatever else. They're pretty beat, but at least they get to come home. It kind of puts everything in perspective, doesn't it?