Lori and I left our house for the last time in a rush, late for another event. We were going to the Saint Jude Reverse Raffle and had to be at the Atrium at 5:45. We told the girls they would be picked up soon and to have fun. We jumped in the van and sped away.
The reverse raffle was fun, but we had absolutely no luck. We were among the last called to eat and there was no food left. Our name was drawn from the main raffle very early. We had the tickets farthest away from the 50/50 numbers drawn each time. We lost every raffle we entered and every pull-tab we bought. We lost Left-Right-Center. We did have fun with the people there and were thinking about leaving about 11:15 when our friend told us that she had a call that we needed to get home immediately because there had been a serious accident in our neighborhood.
We left confused and a lot scared. We heard a plane crashed or something in the neighborhood. Our girls were safe but we were worried about others and the house. As we drove south on Sherman we saw flashing lights behind us. Lori followed behind a police car and it could be said she broke the speed limit. When we got to Stop 11 Road we could see flames above all the trees and houses in the middle of the neighborhood right where our house is. That was unbelievable.
The entrance to our neighborhood was blocked with every type of emergency vehicle. We stood outside on Sherman Drive and watched Hell on earth. We learned that the house two doors south had exploded completely. Our neighbors began to trickle out and we reassured each other and cried a lot. We heard the stories they had. Lori and I stood there until about 3:30 because we did not know what to do. Police and firefighters told us that our house was not burned but "pretty messed up". One neighbor who is a firefighter not on duty told me he was in my house and apologized for getting mud on my bedspread when he was kicking the ceiling off to see if Lori and I were there. I asked him if he checked the basement. He told me he had and I asked if he cleaned it up for me because I had it pretty unorganized there. We had to laugh to avoid crying. As the last fire engine left, the driver slowed an yelled out the window, "Hey Pat, I'll call you later!" It was my cousin Shannon Bosley in Engine 15. He later told me he and his guys went thorough all the houses around the explosion and saw Roncalli and Saint Jude things in one house and then saw our name on the wall and went through two more times. He said in 13 years as a firefighter he had never seen anything like the scene there. Another told me earlier that he worked the last three big tornadoes in Indiana and they were nothing compared to this.
Lori and I decided to leave because we could not get in at all. We went to Mary Bryan Elementary and checked in. The gym there was already filling with donated items. What a scene. The Red Cross told us to call a number later in the morning for information. We left and went to my parents' house. Sitting there we tried to make sense of the day. We had talked to our girls; they were getting dozens of texts and calls to see about their safety and ours. I posted on Facebook and Twitter that we all were safe. Social media was great to get that information out and very crucial to letting people know we were safe.
After about one or two hours of sleep we woke up and put the same clothes on to see what was happening.
End of Part One.
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