A very odd day!

Yesterday was quite an unusual day!

Sarah was extremely disappointed about not making it to states but the mother of the women's team captain took her daughter, Sarah, and another swimmer to Cary to watch the meet.  Some other girls were planning on going as well but unfortunately had conflicts and couldn't attend.

The only downside to Sarah going was that the meet was in Cary (2 hours away from our house) and it started at 9:00 am.  And the people that were taking her live in Greensboro which is 45 minutes from here and they were leaving at 6:30. So that meant we were out of the house and on the road to Greensboro at 5:45 am.

I do not like to drive at night and I do not like to drive in the rain.  But the worst driving for me?  Yep - driving when it's dark AND it's raining.  And that was what was happening yesterday morning at 5:45 am.

I have an astigmatism in my left eye and my vision is horrible in both eyes so when you combine that with night and rain, I feel like I'm not seeing much of the road.  But I made it safely to Greensboro and back home again with a whole lot of prayer and white-knuckle driving.  I had an appointment to get my hair fixed this morning and I told my stylist that even though it was only 8:30 in the morning, I felt like I needed a shot of whiskey or something to calm my nerves.

But never fear, instead of day-drinking after my stressful drive to Greensboro and I back, I chose instead to come home and put on an episode of The Bachelor. It was the perfect morning for such because it was still raining and they were calling for thunderstorms, flooding, and high winds all day and we were even under a tornado watch (which means conditions are right for a tornado).  In fact, before I even got home from my hair appointment they had decided that schools were going to dismiss early because of the bad storms.

As I was enjoying the ridiculousness that is The Bachelor, my phone started shrieking.  My weather app was letting me know that we were now under a tornado WARNING which means get in the basement right now!.  At that some time my mother called to check on me, my cells phone rang - it was the guy wanting to know if I wanted to sell my car - the answer was no, and I was texting Peter, Dan, and Sarah to let them know the weather here in Davidson County.

Apparently, Forsyth County (where the high school and Dan's work are located) was also under a tornado warning.  Peter said he and some classmates and a teacher were taking shelter under a stairwell and Dan said he and all his third-floor coworkers were sheltering in a hallway on the first floor.

For about thirty minutes the rain was pouring, it was very dark, and it was very windy but thankfully no actual tornados.  Peter was released from under the stairs and the administration decided if the driving kids had permission from their parents they could go ahead and leave school for the day.  So he came home.  Dan wasn't so lucky and got to stay at work for the rest of the day.

Roughly two hours later, the storm had made it to the Raleigh area where Sarah was.  A large group from Bishop were eating a late lunch during the break between the afternoon and morning sessions and the tornado warning meant that they all had to hang out at the restaurant until the storm passed that area.

The swim meet was over around 8:00 and Sarah got a ride home with a family that lives closer to us.  We picked her up from their house and got back to ours around 10:30.  She said she was tired but that she had a great day.  I'm glad she got to go even if she didn't get to swim! And I'm thankful that everyone made it home from everywhere safe and sound.

 Bishop is on a two-hour delay but the school system in the county where we live is closed due to flooding and power outages.  People on both ends of our road are without power but thankfully we have managed to keep ours on  It continued to rain all night and the winds whipped around waking me up multiple times but the sun is finally out this morning! It's still pretty windy but as long as it's sunny, I'm good!

Claire, Sarah, Bridget