23. Held it Together
We were on a family vacation in these beautiful lake cabins at this really fun campground we went to every summer. and my mom, youngest brother (4 at the time) and I (5 at the time) went to the store to get food for the week while my dad and older siblings unpacked and docked the boat, etc.
The store was a good 30-minute drive into town as the lake was far from everything and it had started to rain on the way there. We arrived at the store and made a mad dash for the doors as they started to down pour.
We grab a cart and start our shopping we were in the cereal aisle when it sounded like a train was approaching. My mom grabbed my brother and I and kind of jumped on top of us. We had no idea what was happening and all of a sudden cereal boxes were flying everywhere. I remember hearing glass windows break and the madness of the lights going out and food flying everywhere and hitting us. The entire cereal shelf fell backwards into the aisle behind us.
An F3 tornado had ripped right through the grocery store. It was a disaster; we were banged up and bruised, the store was a mess, and people were injured, but luckily no one was seriously hurt or killed.
Ambulances came, and we all had to get checked out. Our car somehow didn’t have a scratch on it. At this point, two hours had gone by and we were cleared to leave and headed back to the lake.
We pull in and jump out running toward the dock and my mom was crying, she had held it together but just lost it at this point and my dad and siblings were in the lake have had no idea what just happened.
My dad sees my mom just bawling, and me and my brother were too and comes running over as we are all trying to explain what had happened.
We decided to stay as the lake was safe and had tornado shelters and it did not rain once the entire week we were there. We had to go to a different town an hour away for provisions. My dad drive with my mom the next day to see the destruction and the whole little town was destroyed. It was so sad. They did rebuild by the next summer.
It was the scariest thing I’ve ever been in and I’ve been terrified of storms since.