Monday, May 4, 2009

A Funny Memory

I was thinking of mom yesterday when they showed a news story about a tornado and it reminded me of when my mom and I were in a tornado. Then I was scared but looking back she was so funny. We were in Circleville, Ohio shopping and doing her usual all day errand runs. Mom bought specific things at specific grocery stores and other stores. We would leave to do her grocery shopping at 10 am and not get home til 7 pm. So anyway we were driving along and it had been a thunderstorm kinda of day. So I look up and the sky is an eerie Orange. I notice at a stop light that everything is quiet..no sound at all. I said mom something isn't right. That sky looks weird. I’m going home. We’ll come again tomorrow. She wasn't too happy about that. But I was insistent because my kids were home alone. They were older, teens actually but still something just felt weird. So we start to go home and are just about to drive out of town when the tornado sirens go on. I look up and headed towards Circleville over the trees is this big tornado. People were stopping their cars jumping out and running. Since we were right by a shopping center I pulled into a local convenience store on the corner and most of all the people running ended up in there including us but first..My mom decides to fight the tornado .I stop the car in the lot and I tell her get out run to the store and I started to do just that but nope not mom. She’s tying her scarf on her head. Meanwhile the twister is closer and huge chunks of stuff (found out later it was smaller pieces of a mobile home) are flying past. I yank open her door and tell her to come on. She finally has the scarf on so gets out. See, mom had this thing about scarves, she had to wear one every time she went out. Usually she's tuck it in her bags (that's another story) but if it got windy she would put it on. I said mom "come on!"

"Well I had to get my scarf on Connie! It's windy out here and my hair will get messed up!"

"Mommmmmm it's windy because it's a tornado come on!"

So with a final tie to the scarf now on her head she gets out. People are at the door yelling for us to hurry. We are almost to the door of the store and I think she’s right behind me but then I'm at the door and people are still yelling "hurry"! I look behind me and she's at the car with the door open again. By this time the cars in the lot and the ones left on the street are rocking back and forth and some are starting to lift up off the ground. My mom meanwhile is leaning across the front seat!

“What are you doing!!!" I run back to get mom who is oblivious to the fact that the car is lifting up. Turns out in my haste I had left the keys in the ignition and she realized it and had gone back for them. Now the people are screaming at us to get inside. We were the only ones not inside. The tornado is seconds away. I grab moms arm and physically pull her out of the car and towards the door asking her if she's lost her mind. " NO she says" I was just trying to make sure nobody stole your car!" Mom!! Believe me NOBODY is thinking about stealing cars at this moment. They are all inside trying to save their ass!!

So we are almost to the door again and the damn scarf lifts up, is yanked off her head and flies flat and straight like a board across the lot and she STARTS CHASING IT SHAKING HER FIST AND CUSSING OUT THE TORNADO. ARGGGG. I grab her again yelling “forget the damn scarf!" She said "well I paid good money for that and it's my favorite"! And she GETS MAD AT ME for not letting her go after it. I finally get her in the store and we race to the back room with the other people. WHAMMMM. The building starts to shake, the cooler glass is rattling, the glass in the front door starts buckling and my mom God love her says “What was THAT?" Everyone kinda looks at me and then her and says it’s a tornado! After a few minutes it was over and we went outside. The tornado had skipped our little building after setting down beside it and tearing things up, it had gone back up and crossed the street and hit the shopping center. Half the center was destroyed. All the houses behind it had their roofs ripped off, cars and semis in that parking lot were on their side and on top of each other. Everyone said we were blessed because nobody was hurt and the tornado didn't flatten our little building like it did some of the shopping center and houses. It's true we were blessed but I know another reason that twister skipped us..It just didn't want to mess with my mom anymore! Up until a week before she passed she still told people about that tornado and she was STILL mad about that scarf saying "well I could have got it if you'd let go of me" lol.

My memory of that day is mostly of mom in my car, lying across the seat, trying to get the keys from the ignition, with her feet hanging off the ground not even aware the car is about an inch off the ground and the nose was lifting up even higher while she was in it. Kinda funny now :)