Too Close

I have had my second near death experience (well, it wasn't ACTUALLY a near death experience this time, but it felt real at the time).  My first experience was as close to drowning as I ever want to come...floating down the White River in Meeker when the water was too high and being pushed under a log that shot me down to the bottom of the riverbed and I seriously gave up trying to come up for air.

I am proud to say that while Grayson and Matalley were not calm during my second near death experience, Lola was an angel.  I think it's funny that I can predict how Grayson will freak out and Lola will stay unaffected but Matalley is a complete mystery to me (she might be okay and she might not).  On the particular night of our experience, the kids were all sound asleep in bed.  Matt and I were catching up on the most recent Mad Men episode when emergency alert systems cut in on the tv and my tornado app (which is a very annoying siren meant to wake you up in the dead of night regardless if the phone is silenced).  We watched for a while but decided to take cover with the approaching storm.  Which means the kids were woken up from a deep sleep and placed in the coat closet that is fairly small.  Grayson immediately complained of heat and Matalley whined about being hungry.  Lola just chilled.  The hail was ridiculous...sounded like it was in the living room and that all our windows were busted.  And while we really did think that a tornado had touched down a block from our house and was headed our way (according to the news report that was blasting via the tv), our house survived and so did we.  The brief silence we experienced during the cell of the storm was just as eerie as the flying ping pong balls before and after, but we were super grateful to not hear a train.  In the end, we just need a new roof.  We were the only family on our block to not have to replace a window or skylight.  Sadly my geraniums and garden won't look as pretty this summer and who knows how long it will take all the trees to recover.  I'm just glad we are all safe!!

Grayson holding some of the hail

 Seeing my branch covered patio the morning after