MONDAY THOUGHTS: "IT'S A TWISTER! IT'S A TWISTER!"

After church yesterday, my daughter said, "We're going to Jerry's". 

Having no plans, I said, "Okay", and off we went.

 
When we neared the Jerry's Pizza and Subs shop, I admit I was a little disappointed, but I generally trust my daughter's dining selections. 

When we passed the Jerry's and kept driving, I wondered if she had seen it. 

We got a little turned around and ended up back where we started. 

There was the sub shop again, coming up on my right. 

When she kept driving, I finally asked, "Is there another Jerry's?" 

I soon found out that there was. The home of the "crab bomb".

 
It was a quaint place, so unassuming, nestled in a strip mall. 

After she parked and we got out, I asked her if she thought she should leave the car windows open a crack, since it was so hot outside. 

She got back inside, lowered the driver side and passenger side windows, and we walked the short distance to the restaurant. 

It wasn't very crowded, and we were seated immediately. 

A very nice waitress took our drink orders and we looked at the menu. 

I love seafood, so it's never hard to decide what to eat. 

There was cream of crab soup and crab bisque, so we decided to get both and sample them. 

I ordered fish, she ordered the "crab bomb". 

Even the steak fries were well cooked, and the honey lemon dressing on my salad was delicious.

It was impossible to eat it all, so we asked for carry out trays, and considered desert. 

The room seemed to get a little darker, and we looked out of the windows and noticed the trees were swaying violently, and the wind was swirling on the parking lot. 

Thinking that it may begin to rain, I asked Lisa if she wanted to go and put the windows up. 

She said that maybe we should think about going altogether. 

Then the rain began to fall right, left and sideways. The lights went out in the restaurant, then came back on. 

Suddenly a ceiling tile fell to the floor and startled everyone. 

The lights continued to flicker off and on until they finally stayed off. 

The storm just seemed to come out of nowhere, but I felt so calm and peaceful just sitting there. 

We'd enjoyed our meal, and sat there watching the restaurant staff scrambling to make sure that everyone was okay. 

With the power out, they were concerned that some customers meals wouldn't be cooked properly. Everyone just seemed content to just wait it out. 

The staff brought candles to everyone's tables, took desert orders, and opened the front door to let in some cool air. 

I wondered if it was a hurricane or a tornado, but wasn't the least bit frazzled or worried. 

Every time there was the slightest noise, a woman across the room would shriek, "Ooh Jesus!". 

If you have to be stuck anywhere in a storm, it's nice to be with praying people, I suppose.

Neither Lisa, nor I had listened to the news or weather report before we left home. 

On the way to church we listened to Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" like we always do. 
The storm seemed to catch everyone in the restaurant by surprise. 

We decided to get some chocolate cake and lemon pound cake to go.

 
Just as quickly as the storm came, it went. 

The rains subsided, and we decided to head home. Once outside I realized we should have all been screaming and stressed out, not calmly sipping coke and ginger ale, and nibbling on crab balls or shrimp. As we drove we noticed tree branches strewn all over the streets. 

I could only imagine how badly it had been for someone in my neighborhood when the storm arose, because they dropped their entire McDonald's, super-sized, Angus burger meal right at our gate. 

There was trash all along the sidewalk. 

The usual river that runs down South Capitol Street near Oxon Run Park when there are heavy rains, however, was, fortunately, non-existent.

We decided to go inside, put away our food, grab cleaning supplies and go back outside to pick up the mess and trash.
The rains cooled the atmosphere, but it was still warm outside. Nothing I was doing was particularly strenuous, but it was my own sweat, not the rain, that soaked me as we worked.

No sooner than we were inside, the sun began to shine. I looked out, and it was as if nothing had happened at all. 

I suddenly felt like singing, 

"It really was no miracle, what happened was just this: The wind began to switch, the house to pitch..."

 
I turned on the news to see what we'd experienced. Was it a twister? 

"Severe" was an understatement concerning the storm. 

A woman was killed when a large tree fell on her car. A six year old child was also killed. 

Power was out in the homes of thousands of people. Traffic was jammed all over the area because of uprooted trees. 

Once again, an overwhelming sense of gratitude came over me. 

There we had been, just enjoying our meal, while a major storm affected our area. 

We got home and had suffered no loss of power. 

All of the trees were still standing. 

I can only imagine what it was like for people who were outside or driving when the storm hit. 

It's amazing when you see what you were protected from. 

It was quiet outside, and everything seemed brighter. I love it when nature cools and cleans the air...and washes the windows...and the car. 

The day was just confirmation that storms pass, and, even in the midst of violent and destructive situations, the best in people still shines through.