So THAT'S What a Sardine Feels Like

We gave new meaning to the word "togetherness" last evening as yet another severe thunderstorm ravaged the Dallas/Fort Worth area. It was obvious for most of the day that a big storm was brewing, given that I began my morning by opening literally EVERY window in the house and then gradually went around one by one, closing them all due to the chill breeze blowing in.

Tyler and Darcy were both scheduled to have ball practice but Tyler's coach jumped the gun and cancelled due to "the line of storms coming in." Wimp. No, I'm just kidding. Darcy's coach decided to chance it so Randy agreed to take her to her practice (since he had yet to see her in action), and I gratefully stayed home nursing my eye that is going to be permanently crossed if I have to work on the church webpage much longer.

I think it was along in there somewhere that I updated my blog (you might wonder why I can update my blog with no problem but go cross-eyed working on the webpage . . . because I just can, that's why), and then I got a stack of books that we'd checked out from the library yesterday afternoon and I called Sawyer downstairs. We read four fairly short books and one rather long one and then Sawyer, evidently sensing that I was fading fast, wandered back upstairs to find Tyler while I closed my eyes "just for a second." I have no idea how long I was out but when I woke up Randy and Darcy were already home, and Peyton and Darcy were out in the backyard playing basketball. Some watchdog I'd make.

It wasn't much longer before we started winding down for the night, just as the storm started winding up. Randy turned on the TV to get an update and discovered that a tornado had been spotted not far from us, so he herded all of us into one of the quasi-walk-in closets in our bathroom.

All six of us.

In one closet.

You can learn a lot about a person sitting a mere three inches from their face.

Oh, I kid. Except that the pain in my back was excruciating, I thought it was kind of fun. We had a flashlight and a copy of Little House in the Big Woods, so while the storm howled outside we read about Laura Ingalls' cozy cabin in the woods that kept her safe from the wolves that howled outside her door. Mercifully (seriously, my back was in agony), the storm was fast-moving and it wasn't long before we could emerge from our shelter to survey the damage, which was minimal to non-existent. I took this photo this morning--as far as I can tell, except that the pole was originally standing completely upright, my plant is none the worse for wear.