Scarier than a tornado?

Last night we let the prince go to the baseball game. This was scary because there was strong weather in the area though we didn't end up seeing any of it. But it was even scarier because we let him ride with the friend who has had his license only about 2 months. Yikes! When is it safe to let them go with another driver???? Never!!! But they did fine. It might have been that we made them follow us to the ballgame so we could gage his driving skills (we're wacky like that), or maybe it was just that he's a nice kid who was trying to be responsible. We didn't escort them home. We let them do that on their own. Neither of them could find the two alternate routes home, so they had to use Main, which we're still trying to avoid. But it was almost 10:00 (because they had to stop off at Taco Bell for a snack!) so the traffic wasn't too heavy.

We also went home via Main last night. We stopped to see the damage at Metra. They have part of the fair grounds set up for news crews and the National Guard. It was quite impressive. More impressive was the destruction and damage. Wow. Amazing that no one was hurt. Truly a miracle from God. The National Guard was set up in the Reiter's Marina area to protect the buildings that still might have some salvageable merchandise. McDonald's was closed and did look quite battered. Their mangled sign was already down.

Given the path of the tornado and the debris we could see all over the Metra/Applebees area (it made it all the way to the king's mom's yard), and the location of the salvage company nearby, it's a blessing that the tornado didn't hit there. There would have been metal and scrap iron scattered for miles, and the loss of life might have been much different. God is good!