An Experience

It was the first Tuesady of YMCA summer camp, May 27, 1997. I was nine years old and a recent graduate from the 4th grade. I was still getting to know the procedure of things at YMCA summer camp. So when my camp counselor reported that today we were going to spend the day at Williamson County Park or the Twin Lakes Park, I didn't think much of it. I carried my lunch box onto the bus, sat down next to my new friend, Mandy, and tried forcefully to slide the bus window down so I wouldn't melt inside the hot bus.

We arrived at the park around 10:30 AM and we all exited. The camp counselors gathered us for a game of capture the flag. I didn't really feel like running much since it was sweltering outside, just like any other summer Texas day. I watched the other kids run for the flag and I pretended to try to get the flag, but at the end of the day, I wasn't too interested.

After capture the flag we ate lunch and my camp counselor let us take a canoeing trip. We all put on life jackets and canoed around the three foot deep pond. It was nice to be under the trees and out of the sun and it was even nicer to be close to the water. Every once in a while the paddles would dip into the water splashing some up on me and I was thankful for the murky pond water on my cotton clothes.

We canoed for a bit and then my counselor decided to take us on a hike. Our entire group trudged through the desert-like trails attempting to find shade and complaining when something scratched us or when we got stickers on our socks. As we began to return to the park, Mandy told Kevin she was feeling dizzy. He immediately instructed her to drink water fearing she was suffering from dehydration.

Upon arriving back at the park, he sat her down and made her sip water while seated at a picnic table while the rest of us were instructed to play with each other until the bus arrived.

The bus didn't come. We waited. We waited some more. The sky turned gray and overcast. The air was still. The head camp counselor stood a football field away from us talking frantically on a walkie talkie. We watched her groaning at the stillness of the air. We all begged for water and a cool place to rest out of the heat. Kevin instructed us to stay seated with another camp counselor while he went to speak to the head camp counselor.

Suddenly, the head camp counselor was running toward us. Her face was a bit frantic, but everyone could tell she was attempting to stay calm. She began talking softly and slowly to Kevin and gathered the other counselors to inform them of the situation. At nine years old I could tell everything wasn't okay.

Kevin then said in a loud booming voice, "Everyone, please be quiet. I need you all to listen to me. This is very important. We are going to go down by the trail. Everyone line up and following your camp counselor." Kevin lead us to the where the trail began, a shallow but large ditch lie at the foot of the trail. He instructed everyone to put their knees on the ground, lean over and cover their head with their hands.

Some of the little kids began to complain when instructed to press their knees in the hard black pebbles on the ground. I could tell from Kevin's face and the look on our head camp counselor's face that this was very serious. Kevin then said, "Everyone lie down with your heads on the ground and we're going to sing a song. Gather close to each other."

I lied there. My knees and forehead felt like they were bleeding because I was pressing them so hard into the ground. I just wanted to stay planted there forever. I could hear the little kids crying. Suddenly the sky grew very, very dark. A siren went off. I had never heard this type of siren before but when I heard it, I knew. There was a tornado. We were taking shelter in the shallow ditch from the tornado. I couldn't even think.

My mind went blank. I had never been in a tornado before. I had never lied in a ditch before. I had never heard that sound before. I just did as I was told.

Suddenly the head camp counselor was telling us to stand and quickly run. We all looked up horrified. She was leading us through a fence into a yard. She told us to run quickly into a nearby neighbor's home. Kevin was telling us as we ran, "Hurry guys! This lady is letting us stay inside her home. Don't touch anything or break anything. When you get inside sit on the ground as far away from the windows as possible. Do you understand?"

I started running. A little girl behind me fell down. I grabbed her and picked her up and carried her into the home. She cried in my arms. She was six years old. When I looked down at her again I realized she was wearing glasses and one of her lenses was covered by red sparkle heart stickers. I then realized the reason she had stickers on the lens of her glasses was because she only had one eye.

She cried some more and I comforted her. I asked her what her name was and she told me her name was Stephanie. She sat in my lap and buried her head in my chest. I tried to soothe her.

The woman who owned the home passed out water in paper cups and we shared it. I handed some to Stephanie and then I drank some and passed it on. We sat next to her ping pong table in her game room. I tried to seat us as far away from the window as I could, but by this time there wasn't much room left in the woman's little home. The sky was very dark. I couldn't tell if it was day or night anymore.

We waited in the woman's house for a while. I am not sure how long. I lost track of time. It all felt very surreal. We sang songs to occupy the time, most of them were religious songs - this was the YMCA.

I don't know how long after that the bus arrived at the woman's house. We filed back into the bus and were told we were returning to the school that housed our YMCA program.

When we arrived back at the school my mother wasn't there. Instead my grandfather was waiting for me outside the school. I became overwhelmed with fear. He explained to me that my mom was sent home from work late because of the tornado and he was going to pick me up. He then took me back to his house where my mother arrived later.

My mother later told me that my grandfather had lied to her. She had called him asking him to pick me up from the YMCA since she was detained at work due to the tornado. My grandfather had driven up to the school that hosted my YMCA program and was told that we had taken a field trip to Williamson County Park the same area where an F-3 tornado had just hit. He was told that the YMCA couldn't send a bus to us because no one would send their drivers out into the tornado. He was told to continue checking back to see when we'd arrived.

My grandfather realized the gravity of the situation. He returned home. My mother called asking if he had picked me up from the YMCA. My mother said my grandfather sounded really strange and he said, "Oh, you know, I will. I just haven't gotten over there yet." My mother was perplexed because my grandfather is a hypochondriac when it comes to weather. My mother told him to just go pick me up already. My grandfather told my mom he would when he got a chance. My mom hung up furious but trapped at work.

But my grandfather had information my mother didn't. My grandfather knew if my mom knew I was lying in a ditch in the middle of a F-3 tornado she would have done something stupid, like driven right into the tornado to try to "save me". He lied to her and told her he hadn't been up to the school yet to pick me up because he was busy. I thank everyday for my grandfather's little white lie.

The reality of the situation is 29 people lost their lives that day. An F-5 tornado touched down in Jerrell, Texas that same day killing 27 of those people. One of those people died from the Cedar Park F-3 Tornado.

An Albertsons Grocery Store was destroyed that day. The manager of the Albertsons directed all the employees and customers to get inside the freezer located at the center of the store. The entire store was destroyed with the exclusion of the freezer. All the people inside the freezer survived.

Point A on the Map below is where the Albertsons that was destroyed. Several homes near point A were also destroyed in the Buttercup Creek Subdivision. Point B is where we lied in a ditch with our heads covered. The tornadoes path was 9.2 miles in length. We were only three miles away from the Albertsons that was destroyed.


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Makes you wonder, doesn't it? I guess Mother Nature was equipped to deal with the wrath of my mother. :)