Crash! Boom! A surplus of rain, thunder, and lightening is what I have been accustomed to for the past couple of weeks. Of course, a simple thunderstorm is nothing new to my life. But for me, all of my senses are put on high alert. Whenever I see a dark sky off in the distance, I automatically think of the safest place to run in case things go critical. You may assume I just have a fear of thunderstorms. Everyone fears one thing or another. I would agree, but I was not always afraid of this particular force of nature.

I am from the northwest part of Minnesota. We count on precipitation for the grass to grow green and, more importantly, for farmers to have a suitable crop. So growing up, rain and thunderstorms have always been an essential part of life. But up until the summer of 2010, I never realized how much thunder and lightening could terrify me. All of the blame goes to the F4 tornado that ripped half my town to shreds. No one in my small community ever would have pictured this one event ever happening to us. It was a freak thing that lasted five minutes, but the aftereffects of those five minutes would be with my town for years to come.

I remember everything as if it were yesterday. The annual parade was happening later that evening. In the meantime, I was at a friend’s house out in the country. We had a sleepover the night before. My friend, her sister, and I were playing outside. Then, we saw the green clouds move toward town. My friend’s mom told us we had to get indoors because there were tornado warnings for the area. We waited in the basement, but the worst thing that happened to us was hard rain against the windows. Afterward, we all went outside. The dark clouds went away and the sun came out. Then, we saw something we did not expect. Half of the roof on the neighbor’s barn had blown over onto the other half. My friend’s dad and brother came up the driveway. They had heard from some relatives that the town was hit. At that point, I did not understand what exactly took place. I knew a bad storm hit my town but nothing more. I tried to call my parents, but nothing was going through.

My friend’s family had to get me home, so we all jumped into their truck and headed for town. We took an alternate route down some country roads. When we arrived at a residential neighborhood, we could not get through. A lady stood in the middle of the road controlling traffic. She would not let anyone pass. We heard that many homes had been terribly damaged or destroyed. My house was just blocks away from this neighborhood. Very clearly I remember I just started to cry. I had no idea where my family was and if they were safe or not. Thankfully, I had a friend to cheer me up. Eventually, we made a big circle and arrived at my street. We could not get through because it was blocked off. So, my friend’s dad helped me bring my things to my house. For some reason, I walked barefoot. Believe me, it was not the smartest decision in my life. When we got there, the door was wide open. I ran inside and called for my dad, but he wasn’t there. I could not be left alone, so my friend’s dad and I walked back to the truck. Then, I saw my aunt and uncle. They took me with them to go find my mom who was working at the clinic.

This whole time, my head was spinning. I had never seen my town so chaotic before in my life. Thankfully, the clinic and hospital were not hit. But we could not find my mom. So my aunt and uncle took me to my older cousin’s house. He lived a couple of miles north of town. On the way, I saw a long row of trees that looked as though they were trampled. Not long after we arrived at my cousin’s, my mother came. You can definitely bet I ran and gave her a big hug. I thanked my aunt, uncle, and cousin for their help. My mom and I then headed for home. She told me all that happened and the stories she heard. We had to park a block away from our street because it was still blocked off. My dad and grandpa were in the kitchen when we walked in the door. As you can imagine, it was a restless night trying to get to sleep after all I had seen and heard.

Miraculously, no one was killed. There were only injuries. God protected the people of my town that day. Overall, the damage was catastrophic. Property damages were in the millions. The high school had been destroyed, along with many homes. My grandpa lived not even a block from the high school. He and a friend were steps away from the basement when the windows blew in, and a large junk of glass went into her head. I have heard so many stories from that day, many unbelievable because people lived to tell them. The coming days were very difficult. My parents went to work the next day, so my uncle picked me up that morning to go to my grandpa’s house. When we got there, I just wanted to break down into tears. My second home was torn apart. Half of the house’s roof had blown off. Glass and papers littered the entire house. But I did not just sit and wallow in despair. I went right to work and started putting valuables into boxes. As a thirteen-year-old, I never would have imagined being in this situation. My adrenaline was pumping, and I couldn’t stop shaking. This particular sensation would be quite regular through the coming days and weeks. For the rest of the summer, my town would start to rebuild not just homes but lives.

Right after the tornado, my town received publicity because of everything the community experienced. But we were not overly fond of the coverage months after. The tornado started to define the town. It seemed as though we were nothing else besides the events of that one day. Then, in an unspoken consensus, we started to define the community not by the disaster but how we reacted in the wake of destruction to restore our town.

After a devastation like a tornado, normal never seems like it could be a possibility. Fortunately, life goes on and normality comes into the picture again. My town has grown tremendously with vigor and spirit in the last six years. But normal just is not the same. It probably never will be. Even though the new high school was a great place, I look at my seventh grade yearbook and wish the old high school was still standing. When I am at my grandpa’s house, I think of the climbing tree in his backyard that blew down. Honestly, I wish the tornado had never happened. So many changes took place afterward. What was once comfortable and familiar became nonexistent for quite some time. But even though I wish past events never took place, my life along with everyone else’s in the community may not have been the exact same as it is now. Five minutes may have changed my life in ways I will never understand.

After all of this time, many people love hearing the roar of thunder and the crash of lightening. Though, they are still very aware of the powerful forces of nature that they can turn out to be. As for me, I will still be on high alert when a thunderstorm comes through. The radar will constantly be checked in order to see if a red zone will be passing over. At work, my coworkers and I will nervously joke about the dark clouds moving in. In reality, we still remember that day because we will never forget. But one thing is plainly certain: this one event does not define who I am. I am afraid of storms. It will take some more time before I will truly tolerate them again. So what? I can deal with it.

One thing I will always take away from this event: Bad things happen in life, but we do not have to hold onto them. If a person can go through life unscathed, they are very fortunate. Even that seems to be a very rare occurrence. When trials and hard times do appear, we just have to take courage, face them and say, “You will not control my life. You will not define who I am. I get to be the one who decides where my life will lead.” Easier said than done. I know. My trials in life could be much worse. I understand this very clearly by seeing everything going on in the world today: murder, rape, disease, racism, terrorism, etc. All of these terrible afflictions gain new energy each day, which is why I praise God for how blessed I am. But I know that one day I will have to face adversity. In the meantime, I want others to know that the storm is only temporary. They always are. Even though your five minutes of pain may be much, much longer, the clouds will eventually break. And guess what, light always wins in the end.