As The Storm Clouds Gather: A Personal Story Part 6

Rockfield, Indiana

Carroll County

May 16,1968

“I was not ready to accept my death and stubbornly decided I was getting out alive. I wanted my Mother was all I could think about. It was at that very moment that I shut my eyes and mentally went down to my knees in prayer.”

My descent down the side of the house was slow until my feet softly touched the ground. I felt hypnotized by the bright light and began my walk towards it. Then I felt my self-outside of me, and for just a few moments I watched as I was walking towards the light. 

The part of me that was standing outside of me was on the very edge of the bright light. I could sense the storms fury.  I realized I had a choice … I chose the light

… All of my remaining fears left me. My doubts were gone.

I was going to survive.

With my bare feet ...

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As The Storm Clouds Gather: A Personal Story Part 5

What happens next is going to be the hardest part to write about. To survive everything that happened on the first hit only to be ripped out from my Mother’s grasp and once again be carried off was unbelievable to me. What could I do to stop the madness of it? How could I save myself? No one could even find me to try to save me. My thoughts turned to God.

My Mother was the only witness to see the monster come back and take me again. I have never talked about what happened and how I managed to survive the experience to her or to anyone else. I have always just skipped over that part of the story. Even my mother will tell you that the tornado carried me off again and then will skip that part and smoothly continue on.

I decided not to talk about it because I thought and still do that most people would not believe me. No one seemed to or seems to believe in miracles anymore. In 1968 the world was changing with the hippie movement on one side talking about peace and love. While on the other side was the Vietnam War with the protesters and the rioters tearing up the streets. Who wanted to hear a 12 year old's version of a miracle with the world in constant upheaval?

But thinking about and writing about the storm over the past few days and trying to decide whether to include or skip over this part again, I realized that it just wasn’t me that had not been telling the full story. But that all of us had a part of the terrifying experience that we never talked about.

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As The Storm Clouds Gather: A Personal Story Part 4

Something told me to run and to run like hell. I darted into the direction I thought would be away from it … but it was too late. I was immediately lifted just off the ground and was running in midair and then I started to spin. Someone grabbed hold of my left leg and pulled me back down to the ground. It was my Mother!

But I made the mistake of immediately standing up again. This time there was no hesitation on the storms insistence on taking me.  It had me again and it was not going to let me go. I heard my Mother cry out in anguish as she once more tried to reach out and save what may have been the only child left out of the five she had carried ...

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As The Storm Clouds Gather: A Personal Story Part 3

The moment of impending death to my 12 year old mind was more than I could take.  My whole body began to shake as I sat waiting for it. I had pleaded with God all that day for everything to get back to normal  and when I went to bed that night with a horrible stomach ache, I reminded him of my prayer. But waking up now it was obvious he had ignored my plea.

That morning I knew the day wasn’t going to be right. When I stepped outside to walk to the bus stop I noticed that the sun was way too bright.  “Damn it”, I had said to myself.  I was done with everything being all shiny and new. Nothing had been the same since we had moved into our new mobile home. It was like we just didn’t fit. There just wasn’t anything real about it. Now here I am sitting in bed waiting to die? I don’t even get the chance to fight? My mind then began to cry out, “Tina? Tina? Where are you?”

The mobile home began to rock. Out of time I thought ...

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