I was 9 years old in the spring of 1974. My biggest worries centered around who I was going to play with when I got home from school and whether or not I would have dessert with my evening meal. Life was simple, life was predictable, life was safe. But all that was about to change.
I remember playing with a friend, Jennifer Early, when the telephone rang. My Dad said, "It's Jennifer's Dad...he wants her to come home right away...a tornado is coming..." This didn't particularly scare me, but I remember my parents turning the television and radio on and seeming very concerned.
It gets kinda fuzzy here, but if I remember clearly, Jennifer's Dad called again and asked Jennifer to stay put. Evidently he feared her getting hurt if she tried to get home. Then, I began to feel fear.
I remember looking out the front picture window; the sky was very dark for mid afternoon and the air was electric. It was very quiet.
Mom and Dad ordered us to the garage at this point. I recall wondering what would happen to Mom's sheet cake - I guess she baked it for a banquet Mike was having that evening. I felt a little disappointment but thought: It's just a storm, it won't destroy the cake.
When we went to the garage we all looked around for a place to sit. I remember finding a sled and I sat on it - feeling a little foolish. Mom suggested we sing a bible song. She picked "Jesus Loves Me." As we were singing I remember an incredible noise surrounding our home - the nearest I can describe it was like a train coming through the garage. I heard sucking noises and splintering noises and ripping noises - it was an awful thing to think that your once safe life was being threatened and that you were basically helpless. The noise reached such an incredible level that I believe I must've passed out, because I can't remember anything else.
When I awoke, I was walking around knee deep rubble. Our house was completely destroyed. I felt oddly calm - I am sure I was suffering from shock. I looked all around and was aware of how flat the landscape was - barren and war-torn. It looked like a scene from a history book. I noticed that our car was sitting at a crazy angle in our front yard and that the windshield had a huge crack in it. I went to the car and opened the door and sat down. It was at this point that I realized I had lost my glasses.
I began to hear voices around me: crying, shouting, and some weird sounds of despair. It was like the whole world had exploded. I remember feeling rain on my skin and then I realized that I had a cut on my right cheek. I had a large piece of wood embedded in my skin. I wondered what to do about this, but didn't have any time to think about it because everyone in our subdivision was going into Warner's Field (a field that adjoined the junior high school). I remember Dad walking around and trying to cover us all up with blankets, coats, etc. He seemed very distant and remote. I cannot remember him saying a word. Then, someone mentioned something about maybe the tornado would come back or that there was another tornado in the area - something that brought fresh panic to my mind.
I don't know how many hours we sat in Warner's Field, when a kind samaritan drove us to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton. Dad, unbeknownest to us at the time, had a broken back. I don't know how he and Mike got to the hospital. All I remember is this good samaritan taking us for a wild ride to Dayton. She took Mom, my sister and me and let me tell you it stands out as the roughest ride of my life. I remember her cussing and speeding and swerving all over the road.
later on, I don't remember how much later, we three went to a Catholic charity home and it was there that we took our first showers. I remember looking at all the tar and debris in my sister's and my head and just feeling amazed that we lived through it all. It was kinda scary to be in a strange place under these circumstances. but I was lucky because I had my twin by my side. She brought me comfort just by her presence.
For years afterwards I would just "freak out" when a storm would come. But, it is pretty much under control these days. I figured God spared me from the tornado's wrath for a reason and I should get busy and serve Him. I certainly have more respect for the power of nature, that's for sure. And I take fewer things for granted...