Counting our blessings
So it’s days like yesterday that make me really think about how lucky we truly are. So much happened last night. We thought it was totally going to be a normal evening, but it wasn’t. How to begin… Well, at the beginning I presume.
A couple of weeks ago, I bought a pack of tickets for all of us to go see the Northside High School’s production of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on April 16th. Our girls were very excited. We had decided to go to Red Robin with our friends before hand, and then head out to the show… It was going to be a really fun night!
Fast forward to April 16th. The weather folks on the news kept warning of unstable air, of severe thunderstorms, and even possible tornadoes. I didn’t think anything of it… We had been here 2 years, and never saw a tornado. Bad thunderstorms, sure.. but they usually roll through pretty fast. Well, the day started off sunny and pretty. As it turned to late afternoon, some darker clouds started to roll in. Still, all I thought about was a lot of rain and some lightning.. No biggie. We all went out to dinner at Red Robin, and that’s when it all started. My friend and I were on our phones. She was getting Facebook updates from friends, and I was getting WITN Weather Alerts. Tornadoes had been spotted near Fayetteville, Raleigh, you name it… and they were heading Eastward. Well, we’re pretty far away from those places, so even though we were concerned, we weren’t that worried. The night continued.
After dinner, we drove over to the High School, and just as we pulled up, it started to sprinkle rain… Not a big deal. The hubbies parked and ran in just as it started to pour rain. The rain was just coming down in sheets, it was crazy! Our phones were still getting alerts every few minutes. New tornadoes touching down, making a path Eastward. It was getting a little spooky… but the show must go on.
We got seated for the show, and I tell you, every crack of thunder scared me. We could hear the rain hitting the metal roof.. and then the hail. The emergency lights flickered. An alert hit my phone, and my heart jumped. Onslow County was in a tornado warning. These storms were coming to us.. I saw a facebook message from a friend that said a funnel cloud was spotted on Western Blvd. We were just off Western… Granted Western Blvd is a very long road… but still… The storm was raging outside. All I could think of was what if… I planned that if we started to get hit, I’d jump over and cover the girls, knowing that we’d end up with a pile of kids and parents huddling under the theatre seats. It was not pretty. Then the alert came that a tornado had actually touched down in Jacksonville. I didn’t know where, but I knew this was too close for comfort. The show continued on, and the kids had no idea what was going on…
The show ended, the rain stopped, and the skies started to clear. It was hot and humid outside, but we were all ok.
The tornado had stayed away from us, but had torn through the base housing and Piney Green area. Houses were destroyed… We were all very lucky. As we drove home, we saw dark clouds and lightning off in the distance. It was very pretty, but somewhat eerie at the same time. We kept an eye out on the roads and houses on the way, and saw that we were very lucky. We didn’t have any damage, and our neighbors later told us that nothing had happened at all up where we live. The news about the Southern end of Jacksonville wasn’t going to hit us until later. All I know is… we suffered no fatalities in Jacksonville, NC on April 16th. God was watching over everyone.
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