Tornado

I remember having a great fear of tornadoes throughout my youth. Iowa isn't the most common place for a tornado to strike, but we are in tornado alley and get our fair share. There is one experience that still resonates with me. I was about 9 years old, staying at a family friends house during the days over the summer, much like a babysitter. The tornado warnings started showing up on the news about the same time the sky turned purple. I tried to show strength, but I was probably one of the most frightened ones. I remember sitting in a small room in the basement and hearing the wind and the rain howling outside. After it calmed, my friend and I, being two of the oldest, went outside to assess the damage as if we had any idea what we were doing. It wasn't hard to notice the very large oak tree that had been uprooted in the back yard. Timing is everything. Immediately after the fear of how strong the storm must have been consumed my very being, the sirens sounded. We ran inside, took shelter, and waited out round two of the storm. Looking back, it's as if I went out in the eye of a hurricane. The damage was not quite to the same extent, but my young ears would have believed anyone that said it was.