Most days I tend to switch between watching broadcast television and shows streaming from internet services. The day of the tornado, as Kelly was leaving for work, he reminded me that there was going to be bad weather and to be sure to watch the news. I watched the morning weather broadcast and heard that it would be the middle of the day before any serious storm activity would start. I continued on with Luke and my routine until around 12:30 when I heard Mike Morgan cut into whatever was on at that time. I decided I should get Luke, his bag and me ready to go over to Mom's house. I remembered that Mom still had my car seat from some outing we had gone on, but I don't remember now what it was or why she had the infant carrier he was in at the time. She called around 1:00 p.m. and said she would come over to give us the car seat and get us over to her house. I said okay and got in the shower. I remember as I was in the shower thinking that I was glad I was taking one now so that I could be clean for as long as possible after the tornado. "Who knows how long after it I'll be able to shower?" I weirdly thought.
I had been through 100 storms and several tornadoes. I had survived all of them without getting dirty and without having to go hours or days without a shower. Two nights before, Kelly, Luke and I had gone and sat at Mom's for several hours completely "prepared", waiting to see what direction the storm would take and then watched it slowly crawl and crush the Cadoo and Shawnee area. Even in the beginning when we didn't know where it would hit, it never crossed my mind we would even get in my Mom's storm shelter. I honestly knew, somewhere, that we would be going back home without any change or impact to our lives.
For some reason, the day of the May 20th tornado, I showered, prepared Luke's bag, and got ready with the thought that I may never come back to my house. I knew that my life was going to be changed forever that afternoon. Watching the other tornado so detailed and precise on TV seemed almost like a warning. I had heeded the warning and knew to take this all very seriously.
When my mom arrived at around 1:45, she was a little panicked and was trying to rush me as much as she could to finish getting ready and get out the door. At the time, the news said the tornado would reach the Moore area around 2:00. I was slightly panicked, as well, but was trying very hard to keep up a brave face for Luke. He had been crying off and on, and I sensed that he saw the difference in this version of "getting ready to go." I told Mom to calm down. She didn't like that reaction, explained to me it was coming, and told me again to hurry. I agreed, told her I knew it was serious, but explained that we had to stay calm for the baby. She agreed and we left within two or three minutes of that.
Mom had Mike's new convertible and I was in my Jeep. We both sped to her house only about 4 blocks away. We arrived safely and began to prepare to go into the storm shelter.
