‘Close bond’

This bond has only grown closer since the afternoon of May 20 as Yareni, Jose and their parents locked themselves in their closet just moments before the tornado struck. David had gone to work that morning and was on the phone with his mother as the tornado approached their home. Jose recalled the day:

“On TV they said the tornado was 10 miles away so I thought we were OK for the time being but then I looked out the window and something big in the sky caught my attention. At first I didn’t know what the heck it was. As I looked closer I saw what it was and I couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought, ‘That’s a cow. That’s a cow in the sky.’ And that was it,” Jose said. “I said, ‘Everybody get in!’ ”

For just a few minutes the family huddled together in the dark with the sounds of wind whipping by and glass shattering around them.

Their father, Francisco Alvarado, prayed silently. He is a Eucharistic minister at Little Flower Catholic Church in Oklahoma City.

“Those few minutes felt like hours,” Jose said.

Mother Francisca curled up and clenched tightly anything she could find in the closet. Too afraid to move, she held her grip even after the tornado had passed — until her son and emergency responders together picked her up, held her hand and assured her that the worst was over.

The family’s home and cars were destroyed. They managed to find Francisco’s wedding ring and their family picture albums but left the rest, hoping they could come by later and find anything else they hoped to salvage.

“Of course in the following days it rained nonstop,” David said with a laugh. “We got to a point where we said, ‘Oh well, just leave it.’ All that really mattered was that we had each other.”

The sentiment rings especially true for David, who believed his family was dead after racing home from work to see only the destruction that the storm had left behind. By the time David arrived, the rest of the family had traveled on foot to a nearby Braum’s where they hoped he would pick them up.

“I got there and saw the rubble. I saw my brother’s car in our neighbor’s living room and my dad’s wrapped around a tree. I thought, ‘They’re dead, there’s no way they survived this.’ My heart sank, and I must have just been standing there looking stunned. I didn’t know what to think.”

The sound of his cellphone brought him back to life.

“It was my mom, and like a typical mom she said, ‘We’re OK, we’re at Braum’s. Take your time and get here whenever you can,’ ” he said and laughed. “Like it was no big deal, like they hadn’t just survived a tornado and walked a mile and half to get to safety.”

Francisca Alvarado smiled, reliving the moment.

In the barrel of a gun

The family’s insurance company set them up in a hotel immediately after the tornado and then in their current rental house where they plan on staying until they can rebuild their home in Moore. They expect to move back by next Thanksgiving, despite knowing that it’s only a matter of time until another tornado returns.

“I know it’s not a matter of if it will happen again — only a matter of when it will happen again. We live in the barrel of a gun; we just don’t know when the trigger will be pulled,” Jose said. “But if God wanted us dead we wouldn’t be here,” he added, revealing that the calmness surrounding the Alvarados comes not just from their easygoing personalities, but from their faith.

While the area they’ll return to may be a danger zone, it’s also the result of the family’s hard work.

“That house was our home,” Jose said. The aviation mechanic had saved about $130,000 to buy the home and designed the property himself.

Three years ago, on Independence Day, the family left the rundown and dangerous neighborhood they described living in before moving to Moore, and moved into their new home in the suburbs.

Francisco and Francisca Alvarado had retired, their sons were working and their daughter was studying photography at the University of Central Oklahoma.

Most importantly, Francisca said, the family was together and living the kind of life she hoped for when she left Mexico.

In many ways, the parents said, they moved to Moore for the same reasons they moved to the States.

“The American dream,” Jose said.

Before Thanksgiving dinner, the family linked hands and prayed the Lord’s Prayer, thanking God for the blessings He’s given them: for each other and for their lives, just as they do every year. Not much has changed, David said, just the scenery.