This morning, I woke up at 6 and had to pee (TMI, huh?). As I was getting up to go to the restroom, I was thinking, "oh, it's okay, it's Saturday. I'll go pee and then I can get back in the bed and sleep until 8." My exact thoughts...
As I was emptying my bladder, it must have cleared the fog from my brain and I realized it was only Freakin Wednesday and my alarm was going to go off at 6:30. I was quite PISSED...no pun intended. *wink wink*
At school, we are kinda playing the waiting game with the rain. Field Day was scheduled, but if it rained like they said it was going to, we'd have to cancel. Well at 9:30 we got the okay to play. Totally excited! I had my camera and was wearing my plaid shorts and ready to have a great time. We made it through half the field events when it starts to rain too much for me and my camera to be outside.
Once inside, we get settled in with our Weekly Reader and we're activating our prior knowledge about the ocean. All of a sudden the secralazy comes over the loud speaker and blubbers out we are in the middle of a tornado and that this is NOT a drill!
The children and I stop, drop everything and line up to head out the door. At Greener Grass Elementary, we don't have a lower level. We have two halls and that's the whole of it! We are filing out into the hallway and kiddos are chatting it up like this is a drill.
Once we get the kiddos settled into the head covered/rump up position, things get quiet. They start to realize this was not a drill!
My heart is pounding in my throat! I vaguely remember having to prep for a tornado when I was in elementary school. That was once; when I was like under 10! I'm trying not to freak out in front of the children and suddenly my ears pick up on some whimpering, snotting and snorting to my right.
There is a little girl, face to the ground crying. What comes out of her mouth?
"I don't wanna die today..."
My eyes teared up instantaneously! OMG! What do you say? You can't guarantee that we won't die today...
I say to her, "it's okay hunny. We are in the safest part of the school (which isn't much). If we do what we are supposed to, everything will be okay."
Of course that doesn't make her feel better, so I just hand her some tissues. Then another little girl starts showing the beginnings of hyperventilating! I quickly coach her through some breathing.
WTF?! It is beyond hard to remain calm when the children are doing everything I feel like doing! I manage, though. Once the magnitude of our actions set in, I got my twister legs about me and was good to go.
That is until a parent came, in the MIDDLE of the tornado advisory, to pick up her child! REALLY!? I would imagine that the interior hallway of a school would be much safer than the tin can you'd be driving down the street!
I just send the little girl to the office, but how about the parent tries to send the girl BACK to the classroom for her damn BACKPACK?! REALLLLLLY?! If you die driving down the street, will she really need a backpack in heaven? I don't think so. Get the F*** outta here!
We were in the hallway alternating between croutching low and sitting on our knees for about 45 minutes to an hour. It was the longest moment in my career....
The advisory passed and we got to eat lunch in the classroom (which the kinders thought was AWESOME). And the day went on...
Just an unbelieveable day in the kinderverse. Counting my blessings and those of all my little bits. They did an amazing job sitting for that long and trying their best to be quiet and listen to what the universe was telling us.
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