Romie and the Tornado

I’ve had a lot of people ask how Romie did through all of this. Honestly, she did great! She was terrified during the tornado itself but accepted our reassurance. While Romie and I were still in the basement, and after Joanne went upstairs, I tried to redirect her thoughts by reminding her she had a flashlight in her hand. She turned it on and started waving it, saying “we can pretend we’re at a party.”

Once we emerged from the basement, she was confused by the scene outside. However, she was only truly upset by the swing set being broken and word from neighbors that someone was dead on the street at the north end of our block. She didn’t even hear or recognize the sound of gunshots, thus, that did not frighten her. Overall, she stayed with me and did really well. Within an hour or two after the tornado, back in the house, she was playing as normal. She was doing her doll’s hair. It was a little flat doll, maybe 4 or 5 inches tall. She was asking me if I thought the doll’s hair and clothes looked good enough, because the doll was getting ready to be in a show.

I do have some good stories about Romie and the tornado.

(1) Tornado Sunday – afternoon / evening

In my limited conversation with Lori we had come up with a plan for Lori to get as close as she could to us and take Romie for the night. Lori asked me to pack a bag. Romie and I packed it together, deciding what she should wear to bed and the next day.

We couldn’t really talk to Lori due to cell phone service being all but down, but in the extremely brief conversations the limited phone reception would allow, she knew to come on the south side of the block because our block was impassable and there was more damage north of us. After a few more attempts at receiving incoming calls, we knew she was getting somewhat close to us. Joanne and Romie walked down to the corner wait for her. With a steady stream of slow moving vehicles on that road, and someone from the neighborhood directing traffic as best she could, there was no way for Dan to pull over to get Romie. Joanne got Romie in the car as quick as possible to limit holding up traffic unnecessarily, leaving no time for discussion.

As Lori’s cell phone was missing, a few hours later I had a text conversation with my 15 y/o niece, Kira.

Diane: How’s Romie doing?
Kira: I don’t know, I’m not with her.
Diane: Where are you?
Kira: My dad and I our on our way to your house.
Diane: Why?
Kira: You didn’t pack clothes for Romie for tomorrow.
Diane: Yes I did
Kira: My mama said you didn’t.
Diane: Whatever, come on over, but you’re wasting a trip.

The next day when I met with Lori in person she told me that she was sorry for the mix up. She hadn’t looked in the bag, but Romie told her there were no clothes there.

Lori: So she must not have seen what you packed and didn’t know that you had clothes in the backpack for her.
Diane: She knew. We packed together.
Lori: Maybe she forgot you packed clothes.
Diane: No, we were very deliberate about it. She couldn’t have forgotten there were clothes.
Lori: That’s interesting. Oh… I bet she told me that because she thought I would buy her a new outfit.

So, yeah, we learned that Romie is officially a manipulator. And, her timing was bad. It took Dan and Kira close to an hour to get back to us, for nothing! There is no way Romie could have understood the consequences of her little trick to try to get a new outfit from her aunty, but still, it was not a nice thing to do.

(2) Monday, the day after the tornado

When I picked up Romie she was very happy to see me. She was especially excited to show me her cheek, “Look mama!” I looked, and said, “It looks like your face has been hit by a tornado.”

Lori had taken Romie to the Mall of America. There are face painters there, and when Lori explained that Romie’s home had been damaged by the tornado and didn’t have electricity, they painted that on her little cheek for free.

(3) Monday, the day after the tornado

Joanne and I both stayed home from work on Monday. We didn’t really have a choice with no electricity, damage to our home, and difficulty getting in and out of North Minneapolis. While we were home Mark had come over (friend/contractor) to do an assessment, take pictures, and to tarp the roof. He saw some people waking the street to try to get construction and repair work, and decided to put a sign up in our yard to let people know that we didn’t need extra services.

When I picked up Romie from Lori at Kira’s high school (in North Minneapolis), Lori had told me Romie had been doing really well but had been getting upset watching news coverage with video of destruction to our neighborhood. So, Lori had turned the TV off.

There was no way I could really avoid going through the damaged areas to get home. I did take the adjacent street as opposed to our street, as it was less damaged. Never-the-less, I was driving through a few blocks with downed trees, a lot of debris, and damaged homes. Romie was very quiet, looking out the window. I asked if she was OK, and she said yes. She didn’t say anything else until we got a few houses from home. Then she became really excited, almost upset. “What is that in our yard!? Who put that there!?” She was looking at the sign Mark had put up. It was new since she had left. Apparently, she wasn’t concerned with the neighborhood, only with her house. She calmed down quickly when I explained that Greg’s brother had put it there and he was going to help us fix the outside of the house.

(4) A few days after the tornado

At Romie’s school, they’ve been talking a lot about what to do if someone is being mean to you or trying to get you to do something you know you shouldn’t do. They are teaching the kids to tell the teacher and/or to “do a power walk and walk away.”

A few days after the tornado Romie and I were hanging together and had this conversation.
Romie: Mama, everyone has power right?
Diane: (with enthusiasm) Yes, we all have power! Each of us has our own power.
Romie: (frowning) Everyone except us…

Yes, it wasn’t until then that exhausted Diane realized that Romie was talking about electricity, not personal power. So, I unintentionally reinforced her mistaken and sad belief that the entire world had electricity except us. Oops.

(5) Later that same day.

Later that same day we had another unsuccessful conversation about electricity.

Romie: Can I watch a Dora?
Diane: No, honey, we don’t have any electricity.
Romie: What does electricity do?
Diane: It makes things turn on.
Romie: But the water turns on.
Diane: Yes, that’s different. It makes lights and things turn on.
Romie: Our flashlights turn on.
Diane: Yes, those use batteries. Electricity is for things that have a switch on the wall or that have to be plugged in.
Romie: (looking out the back door to the deck pointing at the relatively quiet but still noisy generator). But that’s plugged in, and that’s on.
Diane: (frustrated) Yes it is. I think you should talk to your mom (Joanne) about electricity.