Tonight [Friday, March 23, 2012] was our usual "Date Night". We ran a few errands with Chester, then took him to my Mom's after we ate, so she could watch him. We always enjoy getting out for a bit, just the two of us. Usually it's dinner and a movie, but since we had already eaten, it was just the movie and grocery shopping afterwards. Craig was particularly excited because we were finally going to see 21 Jump Street. I was just happy to be getting out, just the two of us. When we headed to the movie theater, the weather was just fine. There were some puffy clouds, but nothing showed signs of the weather turning into something bad. About 25 or so minutes [not counting credits] into the movie, my Mom and sister were texting me telling me we had a tornado warning out. At first it was for the next three minutes. Then my Mom send me another message saying it was out for 20 minutes. I wasn't too concerned since we get them often, so I just tried enjoying the movie. Next thing we know, the movie shut off and the lights came on. I figured it was because of the storm, but I didn't know what was about to happen. Craig went out to see what was going on, and a few other people went out as well. One guy came back in and said they were moving everyone into the inner theaters because there was a tornado warning.
Panicked, I gathered my things and went to find my husband. By this time, the situation was starting to hit me. There was a real warning, and a tornado was an obvious threat at this point. Once finding my husband, we went into one of the inner theaters. After being there for only a minute or two, I started getting extremely nervous because I couldn't get any service on my phone. We decided to go into the lobby of the theater so Craig could use the restroom, and I could get my Mother on the phone to see what was going on. Nobody at the theater would tell us anything about the weather, they just insisted we move into the inner theaters. So finally I got my sister on the phone and she told me everything was fine, but they spotted a tornado about 15 minutes away. This didn't help my panicked state. In fact, it probably made it worse. I thought a tornado would hit the theater, and I would never see my baby boy again. She assured me they were alright, and that the weather was fine by my Mom's house. That was a surprise because it was pouring rain at the movie theater.
We decided to move back into the hall, but stay close enough to a door so we could get service on our phones in case things got worse. Every time we were close to a door, an employee asked us to move away. Almost in tears, I refused to go back where my phone wouldn't work. The husband calmly explained we had a 4 month old who was out in the weather. [Not actually out and about, but at my Mom's.] So they were understanding and let us be. Eventually we headed back into one of the inner theaters, because they were making everyone move. This told me that things were getting more serious.
After some time of sitting and waiting, a woman came in, telling us the warning was going to be lifted soon. She told us to have our ticket stubs ready so they could get everyone back to the correct theater. A few minutes later the rain picked up, and sounded even worse than before. Then it started getting quiet, which is a bad sign when it comes to tornadoes. After just a few moments, we decided to go back out to the lobby so I could attempt a call to my sister again. Once I got her on the phone, she informed me they were still doing fine, but that it was hailing. At this point I just felt sick to my stomach. I wanted to race to my Mom's house to protect my baby boy. I just wanted to be with him every second of the storm, even though I knew he was being taken perfectly good care of, and they wouldn't let anything happen to him. Finally, after watching the weather channel for a bit, my sister assured me the storms were moving [Northeast] up and over. [Lol] I convinced myself it would be alright to stay and finish the movie, then go pick him up.
So we attempted to go back into the theater, but the screen was still off and the lights, still on. We went to find an employee to see if they were going to turn the movies back on anytime soon. They informed us that they wouldn't be back on until the next showing. This really got on our nerves. Why would they make us wait hours to see a movie we already paid for. We didn't have that kind of time. They told us we could get our money back and see our movie at another time. This really made Craig angry, because he had waited all week to see this movie. We both thought the first [only part we got to see] 30 minutes of the movie were hilarious. We decided to just go to my Mom's and pick Chester up and go home. The movie could wait until tomorrow, as long as we weren't stuck in that dang theater any longer. Especially if the weather was still going to be bad, we wanted to be with our son. As soon as we arrived at my Mom's house, I rushed to my little baby and hugged and kissed him. I was a wonderful feeling, seeing him safe and sound.
Maybe things like this will get easier, the longer I'm a Mother. I don't have high hopes for that, especially being a first time mother. Everything is multiplied by 100, especially the love and happiness he brings.
-Katie
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