I made it through the rain
I kept my world protected
*Sing with me, everyone!*
I made it through the rain
I kept my point of view
I made it through the rain
And found myself respected
By the others who
Got rained on too
And made it through
That pretty much sums up last night. I’ve lived in Texas for nearly 20 years now, and in all my days I’ve never experienced a storm like this. Not just rain, thunder and lightning, but winds that had to be up around 70-80 mph, swirling around our house, snapping trees at the creek and scattering debris all over the yard.
****UPDATE****
Officials from the National Weather Service in Ft. Worth have confirmed that an F-1 tornado with wind speeds of 90-95 mph touched down in southwest Allen and traveled to southern McKinney. The tornado, approximately 0.2 miles in width, lifted at the intersection of Hwy. 75 and 121 in McKinney. That’s a mere 0.8 miles from our house, for those of you keeping track at home.
****END of UPDATE****
The rain pounded our house like I have never heard it, being driven into the windows by those strong, severe winds. The blowing rain came in under our back door, soaking through three bath towels in a matter of minutes. Water was driven in through the kitchen windows, puddling on our windowsill.
And then, Matt informs me, “The trampoline just went bye-bye.”
“Oh, and the gas grill is gone, too.”
I had visions of finding the gas grill in a neighbor’s yard, but thankfully, here’s where we found it:
Amidst the constant flashes of lightning – verily, I say, lightning upon lightning – some bright enough to illuminate the whole neighborhood, I caught a glimpse of what appeared to have been at one time our little playhouse:
The roof – and all the walls – which had been screwed together, now torn apart like puzzle pieces, neatly stacked on our lawn, ready to be reassembled. Sadly, though, there will be no assembling of this puzzle. Rest in peace, our beloved playhouse…you served us well these past 3 years.
And then there’s the trampoline. I fully expected to be receiving calls from various neighbors today claiming to have found bits and pieces of it in their yards. Either that, or find it floating in the pond across the street. But alas, no, ’twas not to be found there. Instead, it was found here:
I think this might have been the worst part of the storm for the kids. When Crisana heard that the trampoline was gone, she nearly lost it. They were devastated. Forget hail and high water. Forget flooding and lightning strikes. Forget rumbling thunder and wind so loud it makes your ears hurt. No, all that pales in comparison to losing the trampoline. We even found pieces of it in the front flowerbeds and yard. You can’t really tell from the picture, but a fence post is sticking through part of the trampoline mesh, so nothing about this is salvageable. We managed to free it from the fence (which now has a distinct lean forward) and it sits, forlornly, a broken and mangled mess of netting, padding, and metal, in our yard, waiting for Saturday when we can give it a proper and decent burial.
I commented to Matt as we surveyed the devastation in our yard, “In a matter of minutes we went from being neighborhood playland to desolate wasteland.”
But you know what? It’s just stuff. The important thing is that God protected us – and all our friends – from injury or harm. For that, I am grateful.
Finally a few miscellaneous photos just to give you the full impact of this storm:
****UPDATE****
The reason we were not sitting in a closet or enclosed interior windowless room was because we were confident in the warning sirens to warn us if we needed to seek more secure shelter. Come to find out, the sirens weren’t working. According to our town mayor:
If you get questions about the alarms not going off properly last night, it
is because they are in the middle of being repaired. Â When they were first
installed almost a year ago, Chief Price was never satisfied with how they
were put in, connected to Allen, etc. Â He has been working with the vendor
(who we still have not paid) to get it correct for many months. Â In a case
of bad timing, just this week they took the sirens down for several days so
that the final repairs could be completed. Â Thanks to the chief?s
attentiveness and persistence, they should be fully functioning very soon.
Ugh, not a fun site… but (bright side!) it looks like some strong, smart men put together that wooden play structure… Standing firm, nary a shingle out of place.
Who were those strong, smart men, anyway?
No one to be trifled with, I’m sure.
YOU WERE LEFT WITH THE ONLY THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER, YOUR FAMILY
AND THEIR WELL BEING. SOMEHOW, I SAW THE TITLE TO THIS ARTICLE AND HAD JUST FINISHED MAKING A COPY OF THE CD (FROM ORIGINAL LP–MADE IT THROUGH THE RAIN–RECORDED BY RCA LONDON——–SUNG AND WRITTEN BY ONE OF MY CLOSEST FRIENDS GROWNG UP, GERARD KENNY-YOU CAN GOOGLE IT.
I WAS MAKING A COPY FOR GOOD FRIEND OF MINE, RICK TREVINO, COUNTRY SINGER WHO HAS AD 4-5 SINGLES HIT 1 ON THE CHARTS, HAS 20+ GOLD/PLATINUM? RECORDS–CDS–NOW. HIT IT REALLY BIG YOUNG AT 19-23, THEN 8 TOUGH YRS AND LAS COUPLE YRS HAVE BEEN PRETTY GOOD AGAIN–GREAT VOICE, GREAT GUY. BIT YOUNG WHEN FAME HIT HIM FIRST TIME!! HAS HIS PRIORITIES RIGHT NOW WITH HIS LORD, WIFE AND DAUGHTER, OLIVIA—IF YOU KNOW HIS SONGS, “OLIVIA” CLIMBED THE CHARTS –2? YRS AGO TO MAE 15 OR SO–EVERYONE WONDERED WHO IT WAS-I KNEW IT WAS ABOUT HIS LIL DAU-MADE IT A VERY SPECIAL LOVE SONG. I HAD HE AND HIS BAND PLAY A PERSONAL PARTY FOR US COUPLE YRS AGO AND WHILE SETING UP, HE ENTIONED
ON CRUISES ETC–I MAY GO ON ALASKA CRUISE THIS SUMMER THA HE IS GOING TO ENTERTAIN ON—E DOES SERIES OF BARRY MANILOW SONGS. I WOULD NEVER HAVE EXPECTED IT. SO I ASKED ABOUT YOUR TITLE HERE—HE SAID ONE OF HIS NOT HIS FAVORITES. I TOLD HIM I HAD ORIGINAL LP AT THE HOUSE, THAT ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS—WROTE IT AND RECORDED IN EUROPE FOR RCA OF LONDON, HAVING MADE IT THRU SOME STORMS, HIMSELF. IT WAS NUMBER ONE IN SWEDEN FOR ALMOST TWO YRS, MOST OF EUROPE FOR 1 1/2 YRS, HE THEN SOLD IT TO MANILOW WO CHD FE WORDS CHG THE SONG FOR THE WORSE TO ME–FOR YOU, STORMS–WORLD, MAKES SENSE–MAYBE HE REVISED FEW WORDS FOR YOU !! SHORTEN THE STORY, ON WAY TO RICK’S 2 YRS AGO ALMOST WITH LP—FORGOT THE MELT IN SUN–I HAD TOP DOWN IN MY VETE EVEN.–NOT GOOD. LOOKED LIKE A WAFFLE. MY SISTER HAD THE LP AND SHE RECENTLY BROUGHT ME COPY OF IT ON CD, SO I MADE RICK ONE AND WILL SE HIM TOMORROW. GERARD’S WORDS WERE–KEPTMY SONGS PROTECTED–PLAYED MY POINT OF VIEW.–PRIMARY DIFF BUT HUE REALLY AS GERARD WITH BEATLES AND BRIT INVASION REFUSED TO PLA ANTHING BUT HIS OWN ORIGINAL MUSIC. FROM 7TH GRADE ON TO AGE 23, HIS BAND , THE PHAETONS, WERE ONE OF BEST IN NY. IN FACT, ONCE THEY TURNED 18 (NY WAS 18 STATE THEN–BEER, HARD LIQUOR ETC.) THEY PLAYED THE KNOTTY KNEE 3 XS WEEKLY AND ANOTHER GROUP PLAYED TH AND BACKED THEM UP OCCSLLY ON WEEKENDS. I REALLY LIKED THE PIANO PLAYER IN OTHER BAND, DID NOT THINK THEY LET HIM SIONG ENOUGH. HE WAS BACKUP LEAD SINGER IN THE BACKUO BAND–NAME–BILLY JOEL. DID OK. GERARD SPLIT WITH BAND, TOURED WITH SHEENA EASTON, JOHNNY CARSON (AT END, UNF OF HIS STORIED CAREER, HAD HIM ON 6-7 TIMES–THAT WAS JOHNNY’S KISS OF FAME—BUT HIM LVG–SORT OF LEFT GERARD WO HIS MENTOR AS JC REALLY LEFT WHEN HE LEFT.) THEN HE WAS OFFERED A TV PILOT — BAND OF CRAZY GUYS, MADE UP OF GUYS FROM VARIOUS GPS., E TURNED THE PART OF LEAD SINGER DOWN T DO A SMILAR TV PILOT BUT LESS INSANE–IT LSTED 3 PILOT SHOWS. THE OTHER SHOW? WELL, AD GERARD TAKEN THE PART, WE’D HAE LIKELY NE VER HEARD OPF LIL DAVEY JONES FROM ENGLAND, LEAD SINGER OF THE MONKEES
AND THEIR TV SHOW–STILL GOING, RAINED ON–YES BUT HE KEPT TRUE TO HIS SONGS, HIS LESS TALENTED LIL BRO HAD A BAND THAT DID ALL BEATLE AND STONES STUFF–PLAYING CLUB 52? WAS IT–ALL THOSE —GERARD WOULD NOT SELL OUT. HE DECIDED TO DO THE REVERSE, HE MOVED TO ENGLAND, WE HAD 15 OR SO GREAT ACTS BY THEN HERE DOING WELL, HE DOD THE OPPOSITE
AND TO THIS DAY, IS BIG STAR IN TH UK. HE HAS HOMES ON LONG ISLAND AND IN LONDON—-HE INDEED MADE IT THROUGH THE RAIN—I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD END LIKE PAUL HARVEY–AND NOW YOU KNOW THE REST OF THE STORY.
TAKE CARE–AS DAD OF 4, # 10 GKID IN OVEN (WHEN ARRIVES, PROB STD THISWAY, I AM PROUD OF THEM ALL–I’LL HAVE TEN LIL ONE 6 AND UNDER–.
I AM A COP’S KID, I MADE MILLIONS IN MY LIFETIME, PAID OVER 1/2 MILLION YR IN INCOME TAXES MUCH OF THE 90’S——-MEANS NOTHING. ALL ABOUT FAITH, FAMILY AND LOVE.—GOD BLESS—MARTY–MARTHANSEN@AUSTIN.RR.COM
wow glad you were all ok sorry about the trampoline but like you said God was holding all the important one safe in His hands you are His children and He took good care of you all stay safe hope to see you soon
Yeah, the more we hear about the storm, the more we realize we really were being protected. To think I almost let Trey sleep through the whole thing… yikes, that’s just too scary. So grateful that all my friends are okay, too…
Kinda rebalances your whole perspective.