Hermine

Ah, hurricane season. Tropical storms and hurricanes blow in off the gulf and spend themselves dumping water and wind along the journey inland to nothingness. Hermine is the big story around here today. She showed up yesterday to leave the mister and I slightly damp after our two mile lap around the neighborhood. This caused a slight error in judgment that resulted in Walker and I being a couple of miles away when light rain became something more. There was a certain amount of laughter, clinging to the belief that the situation would one day be a funny story, and eventually the need to take off our squelching, squishy shoes and socks to cover the final quarter mile barefoot. Not that Hermine was satisfied at that point.
The mister and I spent the day yawning as the rain continued. There was enough of a lull for the high school boys to get a few blocks away from the traffic snarl that goes with carpools, teen drivers, and staff fleeing the workday before I picked them up. That break was quickly replaced by pounding rain just as the elementary dismissed. Little Bit has a fear terror of storms, so the goal was to get to her as quickly as possible. Sitting with the left turn signal blinking monotonously, we stared at the line of cars already lined up to make a right turn that stretched on past the end of my vision. Finally, another mommy took pity on us and allowed us into the line slowly snaking up the drive toward the back of the school where upper grades can be retrieved. Erin hopped into the car, and we headed home to pull into the drive just as the rain abated again. And the tornado sirens went off.
We were not swept away in a funnel cloud. The only first-person reports of the wall of clouds that triggered the alarms came from friends on Facebook who were further north than our home. Middle Child did get stuck at school because the district held those students still in classes until after the tornado warning was officially lifted fifteen minutes after the usual end of the school day. The students and the staff were equally thrilled. No doubt the parents already sitting in the carpool lines were even more tickled to hear that they could come inside the school to wait until the schools were able to release students. Eesh. Thankfully, we had no real disaster, but simply an enhanced drill. Now, we just have to try not to float away.