The night in the storm pit: another " Front Porch "
The night we went to the storm pit:
Tonight, I'm up in my chair as my bones remind me that the weather is changing. Lightning is flashing through the window and as I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep, I decided to write. As the lightening continues, I'm drawn back to Mississippi to a night much like this one....
I couldn't have been more than 7 or 8. All I can piece together from those 42 years ago ( 퇽ퟳ) was that the weather was bad. We had headed out from Monroe after Daddy got off work and we got out of school. Our mode of transportation at that time was a silver Buick that was bigger than Baton Rouge, black on the inside and a beast of a motor under the hood. On a good hot day, you could scald the back of your legs when you slid inside and scald the pavement if you hit the right gear. With Daddy behind the wheel, we always made it to Grandma and Grandaddy's at breakneck speed. That night was a little different though.
Usually, Momma let us play in the back seat and if we were really good, we got to get in the FRONT seat and STAND UP IN THE MIDDLE ( don't report them, that's how we lived on the wild side back then 퇾훣). That night though, all three of us were told to sit down and be quiet. The weather was getting bad and over the AM radio, reports of tornadoes touching down began to come across.
When we got to Granny Neal's house, the sky was green and lightening was everywhere. Hurrying us inside, Daddy stayed by the radio to monitor the weather. Grandma lit the kerosene lamp and commenced to feeding us cornflakes and milk. This was a custom we were used to when we would arrive after dark. This night however, we wouldn't sleep in the feather bed. We would shelter in the storm pit just down the road, past the corn crib...
As Grandma grabbed quilts, Grandaddy grabbed his little transistor radio and a hoe. I thought in all of my innocence the hoe was for a walking stick. It would be used as a weapon. If there were snakes in the storm pit, Grandaddy would have to kill them before we went in. Time was short.
I had never been inside a storm pit. To my knowledge, that is the only time. I guess that's why I remember that night. Going in, I was in between Momma and Sheri. Grandaddy had a lantern that lit the room.
The hole on the side of the road was dug just deep enough for us all to get into. Quilts were spread out on a cot ( if I remember correctly ). The smell of the dirt and the rain was everywhere. Of course the smell of the slop jar was too but that's a whole new story 퇽ퟜ. There we waited. The lightning was flashing green under the door. Then my Grandma and Momma began to tell stories, Daddy and Grandaddy began to talk and it seemed as if all was right with the world even though the storm was raging around us. God had brought us to his shelter and would keep us safe. I went to sleep that night knowing I would be ok.
Not only because of where I was..but because of who I was with...
It would later be confirmed that a tornado had touched down up the road just a few miles from where we were...
We had been covered by grace, in God's space at just the right time.....
He will do the same for you today. If you have storms raging in your life and don't know where to go...run to HIM...I promise he will shelter you just where you are...
Remaining vigilant as the lightening rolls through from " The Front Porch "
Pictured below on the steps of the " Front Porch" are my brother Mike on the bottom step, my brother Larry and his wife Carol, in the middle of Larry and Carol is yours truly ( Johnna ) with my long hair, red britches and coke bottle glasses. Behind Carol, Mike's daughter Denise peeps out, behind Larry my Uncle J.L. Guin can be seen. Standing solidly right where she longed to be up until her dying day, my sweet Momma Ruby Moore watches over us all...퇽ퟘ
