Life After Disaster

After the tornado, my life was a bit...shall we say, "Challenging". My family of five moved in with my Mom's parents and we lived there for about 8 months.
After assessing the damage done by the storm, our new house was built on a ridge overlooking a big holler that divided our land from our neighbor's. Every once in awhile we'd get cattle from the neighbor's land wandering on over to our side, but all in all, we had our own space, and it was pretty private.
My dad started construction immediately, as he is the type to enjoy privacy and space. He decided he wanted our house done right, and although the plans for it were larger than our previous home, he built our two story, two bedroom log house with his own hands. He had help from my brother, and he also borrowed several machines from said neighbor.
Not much else is to be said, except to say that my dad worked for hours daily on our new house, until we needed a vacation from everyday things. That was my first visit to New Mexico.   :-)
I don't remember much from that trip, except that there was a store with suncatchers, horse bridles, saddles, and other artistic and animal gadgets hanging around. I liked that store. There was so much to look at and see for a four year old.   :-)
On the way back, I remember going to an amusement park in Colorado. It was called The North Pole. There was a whole shop with old and fragile porcelain dolls, a tall slide painted like a candy cane, a carousel, a mini roller coaster, and a "Santa" sleigh for picture taking. I even got my cheek painted. My painting of choice was a pair of ballet slippers.   ;-)

Life resumed as before when we got home. Eventually and finally, our house was finished, and we moved in in the beginning of 2004. I love our house still, although it has since been sold and added onto. We did own it for six years, though, and it had seen many a wear and tear while we lived there. It was a good home.
My baby brother, the final child, was born in 2005. I always thought he was lucky not to have been in the tornado. Although, he was involved in a lot of tornado warnings. The radio or TV would go off with a blare and we would all grab a blanket and dash behind Dad to the underground storm shelter.
It was a claustrophobic nightmare, first of all. No one in our family would fit in there if we tried now. We are just too big. It basically was a concrete box just under the surface of the Earth, with two air tubes sticking up through the ceiling so we could breathe. Most times a warning would sound, we would have to be prepared for an all night stay, and so my dad built wooden shelves against the wall behind the ladder. There we stocked imperishable foods such as granola bars, canned beans, canned soups, and little jars of nuts.
Every time we got into the storm shelter, the thought that when we came up our house would be wrecked was in my mind. Thankfully it never happened. But it still scared the cowfuzz out of me.

Little fact about me: I say that word a lot, it is a word we say instead of cursing around here, and most people think I'm insane. Sorry if you do, it's just how I am.   :-)
And that's how I'll leave you.

Later!
Mountain Gal