I wanted to take a moment to address some of you and your lack of knowledge on what happened in Moore on Monday. That and writing when I am angry calms the storm!
To those who say you had no warning: Do you live under a rock? The meteorologist had called for days for a bad weather situation on Sunday & Monday. I listened to Brad Sowder on channel 5 REPEATEDLY say unless you have to do not travel after 2 p.m.
To those who say the Moore School district was in the wrong by not releasing early like others did:
I volunteer 90% of my spare time in the school my kids attend. I've been in the school during all of the drills they run from intruder to tornado's. They are never taken lightly.
I got to the school at 10 a.m. Monday morning and the office was already buzzing with phone calls of weather related needs. I always cringe for those two amazing ladies who funnel calls for 750+ concerned families. 6th grade graduation was set for that evening and a meeting for cancellations of district activity was already underway. At this point making a speech was the cause of anxiety!! If I only knew bad was going to go to worse real quickly. The two secretaries and principals were preparing for the worst even when it was nice without a cloud in the sky.
It was also made clear to any parent inquiring that if you wanted your child at home it was excused. By 1:45 the first storm had formed near Lawton. Parents began to swarm the office to pick up children so myself along with two of my board members did the best we could do to assist in getting kids out. At 2:39 the district sent a message saying school would not be released pending the storms progress. Can you imagine if the kids would have been walking home or on a bus? When the first sirens rang we funneled angry parents to safety as quickly as we could. I watched parents yell at school staff about taking their children into the storm as if that was the safer option.
The sirens shut down and the hail came, silly me thought we were out of the heat..false alarm again. Yet, some people chose to leave at that time. I remember walking to get Bailey from his class and sitting him down next to Brody and telling him no matter what to hold his hand. I walked back into the hall as Dr. Perez instructed to bring all the classes into the interior rooms, so the whole school went into the 1st and 3rd rooms. I went in and sat on the floor next to my children. I sat there next to kids I've had play at my house, teacher's who were more concerned about making sure your children were safe than getting to their own children. As the office staff came in our room I knew the live stream(Damon Lane whom lives close to us) on the computer must have given them a reason to leave the post they had stood so bravely for the past few hours. Shortly the power went out, I expected a room full of 1st & 2nd graders to be full of screams. Not at all they sat quiet as a mouse, just like practice one girl said to me. I remember thinking my kids were just far enough away I couldn't touch them and that at a moments notice I would throw myself over these 4 kids to keep them safe and get across my own. As the roar of the tornado came all I remember hearing was dear God please keep us safe and a mom with two small kids prayed behind me as Ms. Stafford told her to lay over the littlest one in the calmest voice I have ever heard! In my mind I was ready to scream how were these teachers so calm and prepared there was a tornado close enough to us we could hear it. That noise seemed like it lasted for an eternity I don't get the whole freight train sound. I can't describe that noise but the minute I heard it I knew what it was. Then it was gone and you could hear the rain again.
Confusion in the masses set in after this. This had been hit, that had been hit.. No phone service.. But the staff still stuck to their protocol making sure everyone was OK and checked out before they could leave.
I got into my truck and attempted to head down Bryant. Once I hit the park everything I could see was gone or masked in debris. I instantly though I have no home and I have no way to get there.
People were walking down the road to try to get to their kids at the school. They thought we took a direct hit, I loaded up as many people as could fit and back to the school we went. Once I finally made it home and saw it was standing and my dogs were OK I looked off my porch and knew I had friends who weren't as lucky as me. We walked the area trying to find everyone and make sure they were OK. It was all I could do to keep it together but I knew if the kids saw how terrified I was it would make it all worse. I've always been a big old baby when it came to weather and being an oilfield mom in Oklahoma I've quickly learned I best just get over it. Cause its all on me 85% of the time.
The last few days have been a blur. I don't even know what day it is. I run through every emotion on the board in an hourly manner. I just drown myself in what I can do to help my friends and family. Yet as traumatized and angry as I am. I see the outpouring of love everywhere. Do I want to pick up and move? Heck no!!! Am I scared it will happen again? Duh, but what good would it do my to camp in my storm shelter forever?
What happened anywhere that day was no ones fault. It was an act of nature. People got hurt and at the very least people got scared. So you realize what's important and how what your dealing with is nothing compared to some others. So stop pointing finger's or inappropriate jokes or statements on social media.
This happened to Us.. This is about Us...
We survived.. We stand strong
Together..
I typed this last night and decided to proof it this morning. In between now and then I went to the park with friends this morning and to clean up the Veteran Memorial Park. Which seems really fitting for memorial weekend. It completely humbled me to see all of our community ban together to clean up our fellow neighborhoods. It just made me feel.. HOME.. Even though Kansas is where I am from, Oklahoma today has my heart and even more my pride.
God Bless Oklahoma!
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