It was torture as I sat inside this location and communicated with Aaron via text message. This day, two tornadoes were in the area, and one was heading right for my house with my husband and babies inside. Aaron had all three kids in the hall bathroom and was prepared to grab Avery's crib mattress and shield the kids further if needed. Fortunately, for us, that storm jumped over us and landed about 20 miles away with minimal damage. The other storm that was circling that day was closer to where I was, and it hit about 20 miles in a different direction and completely devastated that town.
My heart was in one location that day while my body was in a different spot. I know, realistically, that even if I had been home, I do not possess superhuman strength and cannot cause a tornado to skip over my house just because I'm inside it. However, I know that these storms are terrifying and cause worry, and I just wanted to be in my home with my children so that I could hug them and sing to them in this very scary situation. I also knew that I wasn't fully prepared for the storm. My sister-in-law who lives in the northern part of the state keeps a bicycle helmet in her hall bathroom specifically for storms. I was reminded of this when I visited her home just the weekend before this day of storms. As soon as I got home from the baby shower, I hopped on Amazon and bought a helmet for each of my kids. (It was cheaper to buy them on Amazon than to buy them in a store, but urgency is the most important thing here. If I needed to buy them immediately, cost wouldn't have been an issue.)
When the helmets arrived, I fitted them for each child and stored them in the hall bathroom cabinet. In this cabinet is already an emergency box of supplies for Michael (to include fast-acting carbs, slow-acting carbs, a spare blood sugar meter, test strips, etc.). I have had that box in place since a few months after diagnosis.
When storms came around again this past weekend, I felt more prepared. As soon as our phones went off alerting us to a tornado warning, I gathered up the kids and headed to the hall bathroom again. The reason we go to our hall bathroom is because it's located near the center of the home (away from exterior walls and windows). Aaron stayed out in the living room watching the storm coverage on the news so that he could see which direction the tornado was moving.
As I told the kids to get into the bathroom, I grabbed shoes for each one of us because if a home were to be damaged, you'd want hard-soled shoes to walk around the rubble with afterwards. I also grabbed Michael's diabetes bag (which has his insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor in it). I also grabbed three leashes. This was in case I had to strap the kids to the toilet. The toilet is bolted into the floor, meaning that it is more sturdy and secure than our bathtub insert, so we have our children huddle around the toilet during storms. It sounds gross, but it's extra motivation to keep the toilet cleaned (which I just happened to do the day before). I had leashes just in case I needed to wrap around the toilet base and loop the leash around each kid's waist. Fortunately, we didn't have the storm head our direction and we exited the bathroom about 30-45 minutes after entering.
Unfortunately, the storm hit about 70 miles to our east in the county I attended college. Although the college town was safe, the towns in the outskirts of the county were not. The death toll rises daily and a multi-level search and rescue is currently occurring. This only serves to reiterate to me that these storms are unpredictable with where their paths will lead them, and that you can never be too careful in safety preparations.
We are very fortunate, but my heart sincerely aches for those families and communities affected.
Until Next Time,
Much Love, Reba
No comments:
Post a Comment