Cotton Field Microburst

I was doing a photoshoot at a goat dairy farm when the wind started to pick up and the sky began to turn dark. Ever since I picked up my camera, I have been captivated by storms. They have given me some the best backdrops for my images. Strangely though, I was terrified of thunderstorms when I was a kid. When I was 11, I begged my mother to let me stay home while she went to my brother’s baseball game. It was in a town about 40 minutes away, but we lived in the country and we had a neighbor that would call and check on me. My mother gave in to my whining and let me stay. It was Friday after all, and I needed to watch T.G.I.F! About an hour after they left, a loud alert interrupted Boy Meets World. First it was just a severe thunderstorm warning and we got those all the time. I didn’t think much about it because I’m sure Cory and Shawn were getting into some kind of trouble with George Feeny. A short time later, another alert came across the screen and this time it was serious. I got up to look outside and the wind was blowing so hard. That’s when the phone rang. It was my mother calling to tell me to take shelter. The warning was for a tornado. I was so scared, but I was able to wrangle all of our animals and we all hid in the guest bathroom. The storm roared and I could hear objects hitting the house. It was over quicker than it felt, but I stayed in the bathroom until our neighbor came over to tell me everything was alright. The tornado ended up being quite small, but still left the neighborhood in a mess. Needless to say, I was terrified of storms throughout my youth and it wasn’t until I came to college that I got over that fear. I would have never been able to take a photo such as this one back then.