Writer's Workshop - Emergency

Directions From Mama Kat's Blog
You can learn more about Writer’s Workshop here….it’s never to late to jump in!! Here is what you must do:

Choose a prompt that inspires you most.

Write.

Come back this Thursday and paste the URL to your actual post (do this by clicking the title of your post after you hit publish, an extended URL will come up in the address bar. That’s the URL you want to use) into the Mister Linky that will be up…this way anyone can click on your name and head over to your place to see what you wrote.
Feel free to write on more than one prompt if you so desire. I do it all the time, but it’s my game…and I don’t know how to shut-up…so it should be expected. And remember the more comment love you give, the more comment love you get so comment comment away.

The Prompts:
Which one will YOU choose??

1.) A song you can’t escape.(inspired by Stefanie from I’m not much into health food, I am into champagne)

2.) Explain a time there was an emergency. What “mode” did you go into? Freaking out, calm and collected, etc.(inspired by Jennifer from Momma Made It Look Easy)

3.) Write an open later to a cartoon character.

4.) Write a poem about a moment you would like to relive.(inspired by Mama B. from Peanut Butter in my Hair)

5.) List 10 things you never knew until you were mom. Mine?(inspired by Christy from Life With Triplets)

If you have a chance, try to stop by and say hi to the person who inspired the prompt you’ll be writing on this week.

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On May 10, 2008 we were pumped to go to the Monster Trucks that were coming to our hometown and on that night we got around and started getting ready. When we got into the truck the neighbors cows were right up behind the house. And by right behind I am talking that all 100 head were pushing into the corner of the pasture and you could see the strain that was being put on the barbed wire. We took mental note, talked about how that meant that bad weather was normally coming and went on with our plans for the night. That bit of information was tucked into my mind for later use - little did I know.

We have quite a few friends who drive tuff trucks and one who drives a monster truck so we wanted to get there early and see everyone before the action got started. We get there and pull into the pit and park the truck and get out and like any true redneck, find the beer tent. We were over shooting the breeze with some of the people we know and look around in the sky and west was jet black and the other directions it was bright and shining. We mentioned it and never really thought about it. We live in Oklahoma where the weather changes every five minutes. Then all of a sudden the wind picked up and started blowing things over. The beer tent was grabbed by about 10 of us and it took all that we had to hold it down. The port-a-potties fell over one by one like domino's. Dirt and hats were flying everywhere and as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. This odd still comes over everything and then you start hearing the radios go off. To the west they were watching a tornado and we kept hearing them call out its every move. It missed up but it had moved on to Picher.

We had friend who lived near there and kept trying to call them but were unable to get through. I felt so helpless and although I finally got a hold of our friends I still felt like I should be able to do something else. I know simple first aid and CPR but realized quickly that this was going to take more than that. I was told that by staying put and not clogging up the road I would be doing more good, emergency personnel needed to get in immediately. I sat in the truck, listening to the radio coverage and wondering about everyone who was there. There were lots of prayers going up for those who were affected by this tragedy.

In all of the chaos there were so many different numbers going around about how many had lost their lives but the number ended up being significantly lower. But there were whole town and counties devastated by the damage that was done. Seven lost their lives that tragic day. New stations were flocking to cover the damage but News On 6 did a good job of covering the whole event. Click on the link to read more.

Photo credit

One year later we were all thinking of those who went through this and there was a local news crew who was covering the year anniversary. The wind picked up and the sky was green. I started worrying when the wind picked up and was blowing branches and other objects against the side of the house. Matt was heading into town and as it picked up he was going over an interstate bridge. It picked his truck up and floated him to the other side of the road. It blew over with no damage in our town but in a local town the tower for the TV station had been blown over. It was the news station that was covering the anniversary. They had gone off the air 8 minutes before and luckily there was no one inside the building. The tower crashed onto the new station and a house next door. Luckily no one was injured. The news station was off the air for a few months repairing the tower and the building. But just like every other situation, we bounced back and are going strong.

But one has to wonder what May 2010 might bring for us.... Lets hope that it is nothing like the previous two years...