CRASH......BOOM.......BANG!!

About 2:30AM this morning, the tornado sirens went off. I, of course, slept right through them. Chris roused me and told me to go get Aleita and he would grab Maggie. We headed to the basement, just in time for the power to go off. It ended up going off and on several times, but never long enough for generator to kick on (FYI - the best insurance policy against power outages? spend $4,000 to have a natural gas Guardian generator installed and then you will never need it.)

I set Aleita in one of the recliners, and looked around for one of their blankets that they like to snuggle up with when they watch TV down there. "What are you doing?" she asked me. I told her I was looking for a blanket for her. She said, "I just want you, Mama." Aleita is not a big fan of anything that is particularly loud. She especially does not care for thunderstorms. She really hates sudden noises - the tornado siren scares her almost as much as the storm itself. Maggie always slept through thunderstorms, or at least if she didn't, she rarely came to our bed during one. Aleita is a frequent flier in the master bedroom during a thunderstorm. In fact, she had been in our bedroom about half an hour before the tornado sirens sounded, according to Chris (I am a heavy sleeper and usually sleep through her night visits, which is why she almost always visits Chris' side of the bed.)

I found a blanket and sat down in the recliner with her. She immediately wrapped herself around me as close as she could get to me and snuggled against me. It was the middle of the night and I was tired, there was a tornado warning with strong rotations only a few miles from our home, we had hail pelting against the house, lightning flashing like crazy and thunder sounding every few seconds, but I was absolutely delighted to have my youngest child snuggled against me. She is so head-strong and independent that she never wants to cuddle anymore, so although there was a nasty storm going on outside, it did my heart some good to know that there are times when even my little Power Ranger wants her mama.

At one point, I had to laugh at a comment she made. She said, "If I were God, I would turn all the thunder booms and tornadoes into sunshine and then we could go back to bed."

This morning, our yard is flooded, the ditches are overflowing, farmers' barely up crops are under water, the grass seed I planted yesterday is surely washed away, and our cordless phone/answering machine bit the dust after being struck by lightning. But we are safe. And as Maggie reminded me this morning, I won't have to go out and water my flowers after I get home from work tonight.