Way Back When

This is a post about my past. Part of me wishes that I had stayed in one place, but another part of me is glad that we haven't.
I love travel. I get excited when we get up early to drive to...well, anywhere besides our current residence.   ;-)   Unless it's the dentist's office or the bank. Those are no-brainers.

I'm going very far back today. Probably as far back as my first home. I don't have any pictures, but this post will be long enough as it is.   ;-)
I was born in Missouri in 1999, the last year of the nineteen-hundreds. I think that's kind of special. I mean, if I live to be one hundred and one, I could see three centuries.   8-O   Now that would be cool.
I was raised on a large farm in Missouri. My dad had built a cozy little house on the property when he and my mom got married, and they were finishing it up when I came along. It was almost completely done, with only a few things needing updates or fixing, when, 14 months later, my brother was born, and we all lived happily ever after. NOT. Here comes another baby.
We lived in that house for three and ¾ of a year, and my baby sister was born a month away from my fourth birthday. She was three weeks old when it happened. On May eleventh, 2003, our lives were changed. I'm still debating on whether it was a good change or not, because I can guess what would've happened had it not occurred. We probably would not have moved, and I would have lived there for the rest of my life. Would I have liked that? I don't know. If I were raised in a situation where our life was set in one place, never moving, it wouldn't have been a setback not to travel. But because I've had all the experiences, I feel a need to travel.
Anyway, what happened is that we were on the hit list for a tornado. A big tornado. The National Weather Service told us that it was graded an F3, but in reality it was an F4. The research on the path of our tornado was not fully executed, and therefore our fresh example of its destruction was not investigated. In other words, they didn't look into it enough, and it should have been graded an F4.
Well, amazingly, because of God's help, we were all OK. My dad saw the tornado warning on the TV, and swiftly issued a "take cover" order. I had no idea what was going on, except that I knew it was bad, whatever it was. Little kids take their cues on their parents, and because mine were riled and scared, I naturally became scared as well. My mom was a good comfort, though, because she immediately hugged me and changed her attitude. I calmed down, but braced myself for the unknown, and boy, did it come.
My mom was sitting in the bathtub, legs in front of her. My little brother (two at the time) was on her left near the wall, my sister was in her car seat at Mom's feet, and my dad set me on Mom's right. He barely had time to grab a mattress, put it over himself, and huddle beside the tub before it hit. It was over within seconds. I have no idea how long it lasted, but one second I was sitting in the bathtub with my family, the next second I was lying facedown trying to draw a breath. I later realized that my mom was laying on top of me. My brother was trying desperately to claw his way out from under the house, and Mom was trying to hold onto him. Eventually he got out, and Mom scooted off of the top of me. My dad had been flown away by the wind, and though I didn't know that then, I now imagine him using the mattress as a parachute.   ;-)
In the end, we all got out from under the house, we were all okay, and our neighbors let us stay with them until my grandparents came to take us to their place. My dad's mother and grandparents lived on the property with us, and I later found out that my great grandma had been struck on the back with a board and was rushed to the hospital, but everyone else seemed fine.

Well, that is all but a few details of my tornado story, and yes, it is all truthful. On a happier note, my blog has been up for a month now, so happy anniversary, blog.   :-)

'Til next time,
Mountain Gal