So I may be pushing it a little with the title of this one, but I like it anyway. This is just a quick story of a previous camping trip. First off I would like to say that camping in the middle of June is kind of a mistake to begin with unless you are in the mountains or way up north. That being said we camped out last weekend in June for a family reunion. Other than the fact that is was above 90 degrees and extremely muggy it started out like normal. We got to the Badin Lake camp site and set up. My family and one of my sisters were the first to show up followed later by my ma and and some neices and nephews. We had some fun that first day and tried our best to sleep through the heat the first night. Then on the second night everyone else showed up. Nothing to exciting to talk about yet, but now comes the fun part... on the second night there was this storm. My sister Leslie had started getting her kids to bed which got everyone else to start doing the same. Luckily she started that because about the time they were all down we noticed some lightning and distant thunder. Nothing too scary or threatening, but we saw it coming anyway. My ma just said it was heat lightning and was convinced of that. My wife and I were more convinced that it was an actual storm since most "heat lightning" isn't followed by thunder. Anyway, we got things put away and covered for the night and just as we were getting in our tents to lay down it started to sprinkle. So.... Now we know it is not heat lightning. We still weren't worried about it and we were trying to drift off to sleep without sweating to death or sticking to our air mattress when the storm started getting a little more intense. The rain got a little heavier and the thunder got louder. It continued to intensify until it was right on top of us. At this point we were not sleeping as the claps of thunder were so loud that they were shaking the tent and the lightning seemed to light the sky without end. One flash after another and one loud clap of thunder followed by a constant low rumble and seconds later another loud clap. We definitely weren't sleeping now, except for Kaiya that is. Somehow when we go to check on her at home she stirs when we quietly tip toe into her room, but during this freak storm she did not even budge. Then something hit our tent! What it was we are not sure of, but we do know that it was solid and it scared the hell out of us. I was sitting straight up now and listening intently to what was going on outside the thin walls of our shelter. Then suddenly there was a loud crack and a thud followed by one of the scariest sounds I have ever heard. It was the sound of my mom screaming for help. My wife and all of heaven as a witness, I through on my shorts and flew out of my tent at record speed. My wife asked in the frenzy what she should do and I replied that she should stay with Kaiya and I would be right back. Without thinking twice about anything and putting my fears of getting struck aside I ran over to my parents tent. I had my glasses on and it was pouring rain, I couldn't see to well so what I did see in the dark made my heart drop for a moment. I thought that I full size tree had fallen over on my parents tent and the worst thoughts came to mind. When I got to the tent I soon realized it was just a branch, thank goodness. However, it was a large branch from the top of a nearby tree. I began to pull the branches off my parents collapsed tent along with my 8 month pregnant sister. She truly is amazing, and suprises me at times. By all miracles when the branches were off the tent sprung back to it's original shape. The poles had not broken, but there was a hole in the tent and water was pouring in. I apparently pushed my sister aside to get in the tent to check on my parents and youngest sister and when I decided all was well and nobody was hurt to bad I returned to my tent to be with my beautiful wife and still sleeping baby. The rest is just waiting out the storm and packing to go home. All in all, I felt I had a superhero moment only to find out how exhausting it is. I'm not sure I would want to do it full time! Through it all though I realized how thankful I am for my parents and I am so happy that nothing serious happened to my dad. It bruised his chest a little, but he is ok now. So the moral of the story is..... Don't camp in June when there is rain! Hurricane season is coming.... time for my nice comfy bed. Good Night!
