Oklahoma.

Originally I had thought my trip to Oklahoma, to my parents new home, was going to be a time to relax. 

I was excited to get everything together for NYC and enjoy a calm week with lots of blogging! 

But then this happened: 

What I don't think people know is that there was a tornado the day before as well. 

It was smaller but one person died and there were a handful of houses destroyed. 

Of course it takes something more dramatic to make the news.

My family lost power during the first tornado the day before although it didn't get close enough that we needed to go into the storm shelter. 

It was a F4 tornado though! 

Mom and I decided to go shopping in a place called Stillwater which is about 45 minutes away from our house. While shopping alarms started to go off.

This had also happened the day before so I wasn't to worried. 

What I have learned from this experience is that people in Oklahoma are used to these alarms. 

The radio people say "SERIOUSLY GET INTO A SHELTER. SERIOUSLY". 

While this is all going on Oklahomians are busy taping the tornado as it gets close.

I on the other hand began freaking out (so did my mom) and we began driving home quickly. 

Meet a storm cell (these pictures are not edited at all):

Storm clouds here are like no others I have ever seen. 

We listened to our battery operated radio (still no power) and it said we needed to seek shelter so we gathered some things of importance (lock box, medicine, my blanket) and headed into the shelter. 

We sat in the shelter for about an hour. 

We couldn't really tell what was going on around us. 

It was raining hard and the wind was blowing. 

When we got out of the shelter we went to the car to listen to news on the radio we heard about the devastation. 

Our house was perfectly fine. 

Our neighbor told us that his friend had a hay trailer outside of his house that had two buckets laying beside it. 

The tornado picked up his trailer and took it miles away... but the two buckets still stayed right where they were. 

Tornados are so weird like that. 

I've never been so involved in a tragic event. 

My family is so lucky that we just lost power for a couple of days but still have a house. 

I think the most powerful thing for me the texts, messages, and phone calls. 

People who I rarely speak to messaged me and wanted to make sure I was okay. 

I am going to forever be changed by this event. 

I cried my eyes out when I found out about the school.

It's hard to see people so close to you suffering. 

It is also uplifting to see how the Oklahoma community has come together. 

It is still hard for me to grasp having so little power over what happens (i'm a control freak). 

But some things no matter what are out of our control.

I am going to continue to pray for my neighbors and the families who have lost loved ones.