Last Sunday I woke up in California ready to head home after spending an incredible weekend with a group of widow friends. Being a travel day, the first thing I did was check my flights. Both flights were delayed by 15 minutes. I tried to go back to sleep but something told me to keep an eye on things.
Over the next few hours, I continued to check the flights and watch delays grow longer. I started researching alternative flights. While everyone else was still asleep, I started packing my bags and getting ready. Again, I just had a feeling that I needed to be prepared for an early exit. By the time I was 90% packed and showered, my first flight was significantly delayed.
It was time to make the call. I rebooked myself on an earlier route. It was hard to leave my friends hours before we had planned, but I was also happy to be arriving home before 11pm. The rest of my travel was smooth, and I landed home at 9pm.
Unbeknownst to me, while I was flying across the country, severe weather was brewing. Driving home, I could see massive lightening to the west. I made it home at 9:30pm before the storms hit and relieved my parents from their caregiver duties. Looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and reacclimating to the central time zone, I kissed each of my sleeping children and crawled into bed.
Less than an hour later, I was awoken by a quick power outage, heavy rains, and howling winds. Two of the boys woke up. However, there were no sirens, and my weather app gave no indication of a need to take shelter. We went back to bed, but I kept hearing voices outside.
Upon further investigation, I discovered the winds were so strong there were trees and limbs down everywhere. It was now close to midnight, and 3 of my neighbors were hauling massive trees out of the roadway. I debated on moving the kids to the basement but according to the radar, the worst of it was over.
When we awoke the next morning, our little stretch looking like nothing I’d ever seen. Massive trees had snapped in half, others unrooted where they used to stand tall. The high school across the road had bleachers thrown into fences, scoreboards destroyed and a gas leak.
We stood together on the sidewalks thankful the damage was all surface level. Fences and decks can be rebuilt. No body was hurt. No one in our pocket had any structural damage to their homes.
I was reminded again; I live in a special place. The men who were able, went from house to house cutting up the limbs that were down, identifying and cutting down other trees that posed a risk, and piling it all along the roadway for removal. I didn’t have to worry about it at all. These guys had my back and I know Tony would have had theirs if he was still here. 
By the end of the day, the weather service had classified the storm as an EF1 tornado. It hit with no warning, but I also don’t think it was an accident I took that earlier flight. When the tornado hit, I should have been landing. The panic I would have felt driving into my neighborhood in the aftermath of that would have caused so much anxiety. It was still scary, but at least I was home with my littles, thankful for following my intuition.
