Never thought you could ever imagine hearing someone say that the blackness infiltrated their life. If are one of, you probably fondly remember the movie, “Neverending Story” where you will appreciate the allusion. Yet, here I am, telling you that’s simply what had happened. There was a storm blowing in, and the skies were looking so odd, like a weirdness that struck the depths of your soul when you looked out the window. I knew that living out in the countryside, that I had a better opportunity to get a shower now than wait until I had no power for several hours or days. So, I reminded the family of everything they were to do in case of the worst and I headed like an idiot to the shower.

I hope you all have heard the old stories of never taking a shower during a storm, but I had forgone the warning so that I could manage to be clean after several days of neglecting personal hygiene for my families’ schedules. A quick five minutes later, I’m out and drying off, when I hear the train… you actually do audibly HEAR A TRAIN when the tornado is headed your way! (You’ll even feel the rumble in the pit of your stomach.) I peek out the window (another safety tactic they tell you NOT TO DO), because it seemed too quiet, and SO DARK, only to see our 30-foot pine trees from the front of our house, somehow relocate themselves into the neighbor’s backyard, a towel wrapped around my topless body, I’m screaming out the bedroom door at the kids to grab the animals and get downstairs NOW.

Sitting here now typing this, I have tears in my eyes. You don’t really realize how much your life changes when you go through something like that. The fear, the panic, the loss. Then the relief of it being over, your loved ones are still with you. Feeling blessed you have every single one accounted for. Then the overwhelming grief for the one’s whom you know have experienced this themselves and were not so lucky. It tugs at your heartstrings and makes your stomach do flip flops.

Even though the skies cleared, and everyone was okay, the darkness stayed behind.