The Tornado Birthday

Part I
We all awoke bright and early for the opening of the presents and homemade bagels. After lunch, the friends arrived for a pool party. All 3 girls were born within 9 months of each other. Megan is on the short side of average and has the middle birthday. The oldest is extremely tall for her age and has at least 6 inches on Megan. The youngest is extremely small for her age and Megan has at least 6 inches on her. They made quite a group! They enjoyed the pool. I heard one of them tell Megan twice that it was the best party she had ever attended. I'm wondering how often she gets out. My recipe for success was just add water. There were no games, contests, crafts, or organized activities of any kind. Just 98* and a pool.



Part II
It was a hot and steamy day, the kind where you can see the thick moisture hanging in the air. Megan asked during the afternoon if there was going to be a tornado. "Of course not. That is only in the spring." While I was preparing dinner, the girls were on the porch watching an approaching storm, pictured above. They were instructed to come inside if the lightening got too close. While I'm checking the third alarm on the weather radio in 30 minutes, in they march telling of blaring tornado sirens. So we head to the basement, meatloaf in the oven. Megan saved her new Jess doll, too, pictured above.

Part III
30 minutes later, we emerged from our cave, devoid of electricity and phone. (Truly, the archaic corded variety yielded no dial tone.) The meatloaf spent the last 30 minutes in a hot but disfunctional oven and was delicious! Megan enjoyed the strawberries and Cool Whip on her cake. She prefers straight sugar and never eats the cake. After dinner we headed outside with dozens of neighbor we've never even seen before. It was hot and dark inside and there was damage and tale outside. Lots of down trees and a roof off a nearby porch. Local officials are calling in the national weather service to determine if it was a tornado or a hurricane. Funny, no? The winds were >70 MPH and the driving rain leaked under our elevated front door, so technically they think it qualifies as a hurricane if the winds were straight-line and not rotating. Power was restored around 11 PM and so, life continues.