Since Tanner's birthday is in the summertime, we picked March 4th to celebrate. Exactly 4 months earlier. (The house is on the market and this was a great distraction from the stress of keeping things immaculate.)
Oops! Too much love!
Since Tanner's party was at the end of the day, and we were all done with the party, his teacher said we could take off a few minutes early. I grabbed my kids and Noah (carpool/neighbor) to head out to the car. I almost NEVER bring all of my kids with me when I go to his school, but for some reason, this particular day I had decided to. At the other end of the school in the auditorium there was an assembly going on. There were lots of parents in the building attending it and the parking lot was full. So I had ended up parking out on the main highway when I arrived. As we were about to leave, I could see it was bucketing rain something fierce outside. I decided I would take the kids to the library and leave them there, then run and get my car and park it just outside the library so I wouldn't have to haul 5 kids in the pouring down rain out to the busy highway. Just as I arrived at the library, the tornado sirens went off. There are so many rings and bells that happen in a school building and we were right at the end of a school day, so at first, I didn't think much of it. That is, until I saw the whites of Noah's eyes. He was wearing his cool right on his shoulders, but inside he was terrified. I looked out the library door and saw literally half the school and their parents filing out of the assembly and heading for shelter in classrooms.
Still deciding how I should respond to this, Noah was getting increasingly nervous. I made him look me in the eyes and then I promised him I'd take care of him. I'd like to say my kids were terrified too, but they were just so happy-go-lucky about the whole thing, none of it seemed to phase them. Probably because they are all too small or probably because mom was there. Mom is the comforter.
Just then, a teacher stuck her head in the door of the library and noticed that we were standing there. "You need a safe room to go to." she kind of stated/asked me. She didn't stop to wait for me to respond. She stuck her head back out into the hallway to ask someone something, then turned back to me and told me Mrs. Horn's room was designated as a "safe room". Fantastic. I knew right where that was, it was Tanner's classroom! The big task though was directing my 5 children through the hallways without getting clobbered by all the other kids and adults who were rushing by.
Eventually, we made it into Mrs. Horn's room. The 1st graders had been cuddled up in the far corner together and several classrooms of 5th graders were filing in. Each child knew exactly what to do. They had rehearsed this several times before. Kneel down, get under a table if you can. Put your head to the floor and cover it with your hands. Hold still, keep quiet, and wait out the storm. But somehow, a rehearsal is much different than the real thing.
I saw those children all huddled with their heads under their hands and tables. I watched the teachers doing all they could to protect the children. And I cried. I just stood there and cried. It touched my heart to see these beautiful children having to protect themselves. How well prepared everyone was. How scary. How precious are these children.
Interesting though, this is the year for tornadoes. Just a week or so after this event at Tanner's school Joplin got hit. Even the MU hospital started taking them more seriously. Derek spent some time in the basement while the sirens were ringing.
I wonder what Tanner will remember most. The life savers or the tornadoes?
UPDATE: 2-23-2012. It's been a year now. I asked Tanner tonight at dinner what he remembered about the day we celebrated his birthday at school. "The six spankings," he said. Next came the cupcakes. Chocolate with white frosting. Correct! Though he did not include life savers as part of the memory. After giving him some clues, he did remember all the events of they day. There's a smile on his face as he reminisces. No terror of tornadoes.
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