Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Saturday, April 16, 2011. 2:30 P.M.

My nephew Josh was having his highly anticipated 5th birthday party the weekend before his actual birthday as it fell on Easter Sunday this year. The guests had all arrived including both sets of grandparents, family friends, aunts, uncles, cousins, a great aunt, and several friends (and their parents) from Josh's preschool class. The party was held at his aunt Natascha's house and decorated, superhero style, from top to bottom.

Unfortunately, it was overcast the entire day and we were hoping that the rain would hold off long enough for the kids to be able to play a few games outside. They managed to get one in before water started dribbling from the sky and everyone headed inside to play more games. Presents were then opened, followed up with the singing of happy birthday.

Right around 3:30 and right smack in the middle of our beautiful rendition of 'Happy Birthday dear Joshua,' the wind began blowing fiercely and I watched as pine trees across the street bent at unnatural angles. Several seconds and a couple of screams later, one of those very trees snapped in half and came down, bisecting the neighbors' house from the front left corner to the back right corner. Happy birthday continued to be sung off-key so the children had no idea what had just occurred and Phil's dad went sprinting across the street to check on the neighbors.

Thankfully, thankfully, thankfully, the couple that lives in that house came to the door. In shock but nothing more, they managed to shakily gather up their two dogs and venture over to Phil's parent's house (next to Tasch's dwelling) for the next few hours. That enormous pine tree busted out windows, took down walls, chunks of roof, showering insulation and drywall throughout the house. Unbelievable that the two were okay but they were so fortunate.

The party continued in full force for another 30 minutes and guests began to head to their respective homes with the exception of family.

I called my parents to make sure everything was okay with their house in Durham. Because they essentially live in the middle of a forest, I was concerned about their safety. Dad answered, saying that everything was fine there - the storm had completely missed them but that Fayetteville had various tornado watches and warnings for the remainder of the day and into the evening.

Tornados, indeed. Fortunately, everyone we knew in the area was okay aside from damage to their homes. We had no idea that we were actually right smack in the tornado until we watched the news the next day. Pictures and video coverage showed homes with roofs missing, trees splayed on and in homes as well as scattered throughout yards, roads, and on vehicles, overturned tractor trailers, a local school completely demolished as well as the farmer's market, a hotel, strip-mall, and countless homes that were only a couple of miles away from where we had been that day. The winds were so strong that they ripped up pavement in a few of the neighborhoods. What had once been paved roads are now nothing but dirt paths. Madness.

Phil and I drove through our neighborhood that very day to check on our house. Thankfully, the only thing that seemed to be affected was a shingle that had flown away in the wind. Other neighbors were not so fortunate - garage doors were completely dented in from the strong winds, siding ripped off, fences torn down and thrown who knows where, sections of roof missing entirely so that you could see into the home. 

Raleigh, Dunn, Sanford, and various other cities saw similar devastation. Driving through Fayetteville and seeing so much damage was unreal - none of us could get over the fact that the tornado ripped through so close to home. Give me a hurricane any day.