Rough Night

At 4:37 a. m. today Kara and I were awakened to tornado sirens. We woke our sleeping children and had them come downstairs. The rain was really beating down. We watched the news fir a little while until the danger passed and the sirens quieted, but everyone finished their slumber on the ground floor. Although it wasn’t nearly as dramatic, I was reminded of our last 4:30 a.m. wake up drill; the Northridge earthquake of 1994. Amanda was on the verge of three and Ryan was experiencing his first January. We were 17 miles from the epicenter, and that was scary. You don’t get any warning. I remember standing over my little family in the doorway, holding on to the frame to keep from falling, fully expecting the roof to come down on us. I hoped that my shoulders and back would be sufficiently strong to protect them from serious injury. What is a little spinning wind compared to the earth shifting beneath your feet?