Driving home from a baseball game the other evening I found myself caught in a storm. This wasn’t just any storm. This was a storm so bad that our little town of Black Mountain made the news that night.
It was strangest storm I had ever been in. Like something I had watched at one point in a movie...and was now watching it in complete surround sound all around me....however still, in the midst of the chaos of those few moments, I could see sunlight....
And honestly, that was what kept me moving. I knew that if I could just make it through, past the ‘mess’, I could reach the sunny spot and at least get into my house before the rest came.
But as I followed the other scared passengers down the road with our emergency flashers blazing, creeping along at the lightning speed of about 20mph, I knew my trek home was going to take some time. And I started praying. Loudly at times.
It appeared as if I was in the middle of some kind of mini tornado. I was literally watching trees ripped out of their nesting spots with roots exposed like someone was twisting the top off a jar...one by one... Limbs and debris were flying through the air. I was looking for Dorothy and Toto to come flying by.
At one point a rather large piece of branch came and hit my windshield with such great force it was no wonder it didn’t break it to a million pieces. I was dodging downed power lines in the road. As I proceeded forward, still seeing ‘the light’ mind you, the rain and hail came down so thick all I could do was focus on the tail lights in front of me. This time creeping down to a turtle pace.
After calling my husband in a panic not knowing what I should do, he ever-so-calmly encouraged me to look for somewhere to get off the road and just stop....But as I was looking for a place to pull over, all I could see was that every parking lot around me had more trees and power lines and I did not want to risk the chance of something falling on top of my car as I sat and did nothing. So I proceeded forward.
Seriously, I have never seen or been in anything like that.
The fire trucks and police were everywhere with lights and sirens blazing as I crept through the small town of Black Mountain. As I turned the corner to cross the railroad tracks I noticed the arm for the railroad had been snapped off because of the wind. I kid you not. The Imax version of “Twister” had nothing on what I was seeing.
But odd as it was, I could still, very vaguely, see sunlight in the distance...
My hope was to make to the Ingles parking lot on the other side of the bridge and wait out the rest of this thing. But when I crossed under the bridge, just like someone turning a switch on and off, the wind suddenly died down, and the frantic chaos I just exited was nothing more than a spring thunderstorm.
So I passed right by Ingles and kept moving forward....
I live in a heavily wooded area and as I climbed the road to my house, it was appeared that it had rained, but nothing like what I just saw in town. Did I pass through a tornado? Quite possibly yes.
As I have thought about a new blog over these past few days and what to write, that experience kept popping into my mind and I couldn’t give you a more clearer word picture of my world right now.
Things at work still feel as if I am in a tornado....debris is flying...and I am uneasy in the midst. I don’t’ know if I should pull over at times and just stop. All the while my heart is still broken from the loss of babies and relationships and I am trying my best to heal and move on but at times, like with “mother’s day” on the horizon, I feel as if I am taking two steps back as I am dealing with a whole new set of emotions that have kind of crept up on me.
However, with that said, strangely, in the distance, fading in and out I can see the light on the other side. The calm sunny spot. So praying my way through what feels like a tornado that will not ever subside, I keep moving forward. Focusing on the hope set before me. Knowing there is ‘another side’ out there somewhere.
I don’t know when I will make it to the other side...I don’t know when the wind will die down and the rain will stop. I just know that I am to keep moving forward. To focus, pray, and to not sit still. To move through it and not pull over in hopes of waiting it out.
Storms do come and go. Sometimes they last longer and are harder to see through. Sometimes they are quick. But one thing I know is that while they can be hard and vicious at times, they do end. There is a light on the other side.
And right now, I know I am getting closer to a light.
So I keep moving on.
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