Barefoot in a Public Restroom

Last night my good friend Jen was in town from New York (pictures to come). So a bunch of us girls got together in Maple Grove for dinner and drinks. We chatted away and when our bill came the waiter said,

"I hear some bad weather is headed our way."

(Typical Minnesota talk...weather this-weather that.) So I thought, well I better call it a night and hit the road. As I headed up 94 west to cut over on 101 in Rogers my friend Brittney called and said,

"Hey- the weather is pretty bad you should come over to my house and wait it out."

I replied by saying,

"Thanks, but I am no more than 10 minutes away from home."

(stupid.)

As I headed North on 101 I see a gigantic funnel cloud rotating in front of me and all of a sudden I realize that NOBODY is on the freaking highway but me. (Joy.) Right at that moment, Justin calls me from home in the basement safe with Hannah and starts yelling at me that I should NOT be on the road and that I need to get inside immediately. After I said something stupid like,

"Stop yelling at me, I am already scared enough!"

I pulled over into a Walgreens parking lot. Rain was pouring in sheets like it was a freaking monsoon. I did not know if I was supposed to stay in my car, or get out. So I stayed in my car, more so because I was frozen with fear because I had just heard on the radio that there was a tornado in Rogers (where I was) and one it Otsego (where I was headed through...) Then out of nowhere it got pitch black and all the lights in the town went out and my car started viciously rocking back-and-forth. So I decided this was probably a good time to get my butt into Walgreens. I was parked across the parking lot from the entrance, I took a deep breath and opened my car door and ran like the dickens. In the short sprint from my car to the front entrance I lost my flip-flops in ocean-deep puddles, but refused to stop for them in fear that I was going to get blown over by the massive winds. So there I was huddled in the women's bathroom, barefoot, with about 8 other women who were freaking out. (one rightfully so- she had a three week old baby with her.) One of the women huddled in the bathroom asked an employee, "Is this where we should all be in a severe storm, or do you have a basement?" The employee responded with, "I don't know." (Great.) Every employee working at walgreens last night was probably born 10 years ago and seemed a little more freaked out than anyone else. Long story short, it is a very good thing I pulled off the highway when I did, there were two tornadoes that I would have driven right through if glorious Walgreens had not opened its doors to all the crazy stupid people out on the roads last night.

-

I arrived home soaking wet from head-to-toe and welcomed by Justin (still using a stern voice)

"What in the hell were you thinking?!"

oops. Not my brightest move.