The Night in the Pink Closet

Our family spent last night in a closet. The whole family in a tiny pink closet. We didn't exactly sleep, and we did come out from time to time. So maybe saying we spent the night in there is a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much. No, we weren't having a pajama party on a school night. We were simply following the weatherman's strict instructions to "take cover". The weirdest "winter" weather I've ever experienced slammed into our little part of the world last evening. My mom was on the phone first thing this morning informing me that she heard on the news these were the worst January storms in this region since the 1800's.

It was a sneaky storm too. For three days before it hit, the weather was gorgeous, complete with record-setting highs. Then, yesterday about 5:00, everything got still..and dark. The wind blew and it rained. It was eery but not scary - yet. During dinner, we turned on the news "just to be safe" and already a tornado had touched down about forty miles west of us - headed right toward us. That's when we "took cover", tornado language for getting in the smallest, most cramped part of your house, contorting your body into the most uncomfortable position you can imagine and covering your head with soft cushy items like pillows and blankets to protect your head and neck from flying trees and crumbling houses. Sounds reasonable, right? So that's what we did. Not once, not twice, but three times. The storms just kept coming, one after another, from 6:00 pm to 4:00 am. They were moving as quickly as 70 mph, and they came in waves, complete with driving rain, baseball-sized hail and deadly twisters. Hence, the reason for hanging out in my daughter's pink closet.

Mackenzie, who's 12, cried silent tears. Maddie, whose closet was our temporary residence, hunched over with her knees drawn to her chest and shook. Micah, the five-year-old, sat on Dad's lap and played with the flashlight, asking, "Can we get out now?" continuously, until we all wanted to scream! We dozed, we held hands, and we prayed - for protection, for peace and for the people who'd already lost their homes and their lives.

It was all too familiar. Eight months ago, a tornado completely devastated Greensburg, Kansas, a farming community 10 miles from where my mom & stepfather, brother and sisters live. The kids and I had gone to help with the relief efforts, and they remember it well. So when they hear the word "tornado" they get very real pictures in their minds - pictures of a hundred cots set up in a school gymnasium, people sobbing out of grief and exhaustion, and strangers embracing as friends in the midst of a shared tragedy. Because of one storm, they know that nature is strong but God is stronger, that loss hurts but love heals. They've seen a town obliterated in 10 minutes and the townspeople plan to rebuild it 10 minutes after that. They know that courage and determination trump shock and fear every time. Oh yeah and one other thing... They know that when the weatherman says, "Take cover," we all go to the pink closet.