Most Exciting (almost) PTA Meeting of the Year

So last night I had to go to a PTA meeting (& 4th grade choral concert) to get sworn in to be a VP of something (I think it's academic affairs and I really don't know what that means). The meeting was at 6pm which was a little challenging with gymnastics + traffic so Paul met me in a parking lot and we did the switch off. No way was I taking all my kids to the PTA meeting. As I got closer to school it started thunderstorming but not really raining yet..just some lightening and thunder in the distance.

So I get to the school and start meeting some of the other ladies I'll be on the PTA with before the meeting starts. As we're chatting a dad casually walks by and says "there's a tornado coming in 6 minutes..and we're right in the line for it". Um WHAT? Excuse me? What is going on??? We all stare at him and look at the drenched people walking in the door and realize something ain't right. Apparently it's raining cats, dogs & elephants outside, hailing and the wind is gusting something fierce! We hear from someone else that yes indeed there is a tornado WARNING right now and OMG what do we do? A bunch of us get on our phones and call our husbands to make sure they are aware of the weather situation (Paul dismissed me on the phone but apparently did talk to the kids about tornados and turned the weather on). We get the people out of the gym where they are awaiting the meeting & concert. The music & 4th grade teachers get the kids in tornado drill position in one hallway and the PTA parents were directed to another hallway. It was crazy! Kids were crying...there was a bit of panic in the air but since everyone & their kids had cell phones and could get on the Internet we realized that the tornado was not really headed towards our school but indeed were having a pretty severe storm and the path of the alleged tornado was fairly close to us. The Vice Principal got over the intercom and told us we need to stay in tornado drill position until the warning expired which was about 2o minutes. So we stayed facing the wall for 20 minutes and getting cozy with our neighbors. Finally at 6:30 the vice principal told us the evenings activities were canceled and that we could go home. She forgot to mention it was literally a monsoon outside so it was a bit chaotic with everyone trying to get to the car without getting soaked to the bone. So now we have to reschedule the swearing in ceremony.

I left the PTA meeting to go meet some friends for dinner. I don't think I've ever driven through rain quite that hard and seen the sky so dark for that time of day. Had I realized it was that bad I probably would have just gone home.

There are more storms forecasted tonight..hopefully it won't be as bad as yesterday!