This is a very big weekend - for our family, for Hawkeye Sarah and Todd, and most especially, for Horsey Reader Trinity.***
Trinity is graduating this weekend from the University of Iowa with her degree in nursing. (She's with Iowa's mascot, Herky the Hawk.)
Naturally, as graduation approaches, Trin and her fellow nursing school graduates gathered around the University of Iowa's swimming and diving competition pool to celebrate.
Odd place for graduates to gather, right?
But it is an annual University of Iowa School of Nursing tradition
for their graduating students to symbolically "plunge into nursing" when they graduate.
I've been enjoying all the photos that are coming across our family GroupMe. But this next one... Oh, this next one, It made me pause. It has my heart. I felt teary and remembered the fear I'd felt. And, I felt so proud of Trinity and her capabilities to think fast, think of others, and perhaps to even save lives.
Trinity posing in front of a Cambus. (Check out the signage.) Here is the story:
Tornados Make for a Long Night
I'm sitting here at the keyboard trying to write and keep my eyes open. Last night was a LONG night - intense tornados went through this part of the midwest and I was up late monitoring the storms as they barreled through.
The road we used to drive down to get to Sarah and Todd's home. I don't even recognize it now.
Our family GroupMe chat was constantly beeping as family members were checking on each other and sharing news as to who had a tornado nearby and needed to find shelter. Hawkeye Sarah was right in the path of a huge wedge tornado that was dumping baseball sized hail.
Trin took a moment to snap a photo of the bus parked outside and post it on GroupMe. My phone lit up as family members were telling her to get away from those windows and to get into the basement.
She took this screenshot of it and posted it in our GroupMe - it was five miles from her home and the news posted a list of its projected path. It was on a path to go right over her neighborhood. A second tornado was developing nearby but that one was going south of her, not coming straight at her like this one was.
Her home has a cinderblock safe room in the basement so she, Todd, and the dogs sheltered there while the tornado passed over them. Surprisingly, she had no damage, at least not that she could see.
While I was worrying about my daughter, she was worrying about hers. Trinity is a student there at the University of Iowa and she also drives for Cambus, a bus service for students and faculty. She was driving her route as the sirens went off so she pulled the bus over in front of one of the dormitories, ushered her riders out, and got them into the building.
While sheltering in the basement, Trina filled out her daily bus report.
At that point, I needed a little levity!
Her bus was fine when she came out of shelter. As for the rest of Iowa City/Coralville, we will know more as soon as the sun is up. Reports are that there is a lot of damage in Coralville.
And when that sun came up, this is what the damage looked like.
Iowa Damage, April 2, 2023
Hawkeye Sarah and family are fine, but Iowa City's twin city, Coralville, took a very hard hit. Sarah and Todd, plus Mountain Mama Jessica, all have lived in various homes in Coralville. Sadly, the first neighborhood Sarah and Todd lived in sustained lots of damage.
This home is on the corner by their former home.
Another shot of the corner by where they lived.
We have predictions of a similar storm system coming through Tuesday evening. I hope those predictions are wrong.
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Trinity had about 30 people on that bus when the tornado sirens went off. Thinking quickly, she got them all to safety and narrowly dodged a direct hit by a very strong tornado. I was proud of her then, and I am even more proud of her now.
This gal is more than ready to go out into the world and make her way. Congratulations, Trinity!
***Horsey Reader was the name she picked for herself when she first joined social media. It reflects two of her great loves, reading and horses.
