Working on it!

How the weather changed my life forever.

Moving out. A tedious process, generally, planned weeks, or even months in advance. Not for me though. Life can only be so predictable, and when you are being thrown at two tornados and a one-in-a-lifetime blizzard, packing up your stuff can be easy, and even fun to do. Before all that chaos, things were looking better than ever before for my family, and moving out to a city never crossed their minds. We have everything we would ever need right at home right?

We lived at the borders of a small town, mainly living off our farm’s produce and cattle. My paternal grandfather, a grumpy man back then, managed it. He says he would have my father help to do chores all day long. “He always found new ways to jam the tractor and I had to come to rescue him,” he said when telling me this story. According to my father, that farm was a “labor camp”. My mother, on the other hand, had a way with business and managed a little stand in the community market where we would sell vegetables. Back then, we didn’t have much, money-wise, but I was living the life. My only two obligations were going to school and going to bed early. There were other family members living in my town, like distant cousins or uncles, but I can’t remember much of them and my grandpa can’t either, who will be the main source of information from this point forward.

Eventually, we managed to save enough money to afford a radio. Just a few days later, a local broadcast informed all the community of an incoming tornado in the following hours. My grandfather says that no one, not even my father, lost a single second securing anything of value before disaster struck. I distinctly remember everyone running in all directions, and then being picked up in a panic. We got lucky the first time and only lost a few acres of crops. Our neighbors weren’t so. Then, the first snow blizzard in 20 years came down really hit hard. Our cattle suffered the most and our tractor was found 2 miles from our farm. We figured that moving out was the best option and began planning where to go, but then the second tornado came unannounced, barely leaving us time to pack the essentials and drive away. Before my grandpa told me about that day, I thought our house being ripped apart from its foundation was just a bad dream I had as a kid.

In a rush, we never planned where to go after we left our farm aside from a general direction: away from tornados. We apparently lived in a handful of motels throughout a month before we finally settled in the big city. My great uncle took us in shortly until we could afford our own apartment. Everything changed in what seemed to be just a day. The price for everything grew exponentially and no amount of experience farming would get any of my family members jobs. Against all odds, my mother got a job, conveniently, managing a small grocery shop. Turns out, organization is as valuable in the countryside as it is in the city, if not more. Nowadays, she is managing a supermarket, my father works as a plumber and I now go to a new school, with new friends. We even have our own apartment! It’s amazing how fast one can adapt to adversities. Not everything changes though: my grandpa still hates the noise of traffic at night.

*Accurate representation of us leaving our home by 3 year old me*