The Tractor Pull

Within the week I received a call from my mother inviting me to a 'tractor pull.'  This was something of an annual event (my mother received free tickets through the TV station that she worked) and involved my 'whole' family.  HELL YEAH I was done for it, this was just the main reason I had moved back home to do things and be close to family!   I was stoked to say the least and couldn't wait for the day to get there.

What an event it turned out to be!  Not only was I with my family all together on a Friday night at at annual event, there was entertainment!  As it turned out, there was more entertainment than what was on the agenda!  That evening, while we were sitting there waiting for the 'tractor' pull a really huge storm blew in.  The storm brought winds that were unlike any I could recall (even the ones I had experienced in New Mexico) and all of us 'fans' were forced to take shelter in the fall out shelter below the bleachers.  It was something!

The storm must have been something, for my phone started ringing with a call from my cousin 30+ miles away calling to check on me!  I was overcome, thinking to myself this is the way it is supposed to be, family calling family to check on them and make sure they are all right!  It was a novelty to me but something that I liked and looked forward to in my life!

In time the storm blew over but not before dealing its devastation over miles!  The 'tractor' pull went on as planned while we sat in the bleachers not having a clue to what happened around us until after the event.  The ride home was filled with talk of the storm and how bad they can be as we drove home amid flashes of lightning all around us!  Arriving at the turn on the highway to go back to my house we were forced to take a detour - the highway was closed due to the storm!

It was dark as we drove home and despite the detours and the storm all around us we could not tell the affects the storm had.  It wasn't until the next day in the light of day that we were able to get out on the roads and see how devastating the storm was.  Driving down road after road and by house after house the damage caused by the tornado was unmistakable and easy to see.  It was horrendous!  Entire houses moved!  Lifted from their foundations and made uninhabitable!  The uprooting of trees was unbelievable, huge trees and hundreds of them!  Across the sky the plumes of smoke could not go unnoticed as people burnt piles of rubbish to recover from the tornado.  It was eerie to look out across the plains and fields, the stands of trees and see the branches and trunks of huge magnificent trees strewn about like matchsticks.  It had been one gigantic storm and my thoughts went out to all the families who suffered from it.

This storm had passed and all my family escaped its wrath - for that I was thankful!