Drink O'Clock
Podcast interviewing anyone, and everything, that we find interesting. Drinks may be involved and some shenanigans may be had.
Drink O'Clock
What Nobody Tells You About Surviving a Tornado
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At 1:00 AM, five jet engines worth of wind tore the roof and walls off his house with his whole family inside. Jon Edlin survived an EF3 tornado in Nashville, jumping on top of his seven-year-old daughter as the windows exploded one after another. Everybody made it out alive. Then the real work started.
In this one, Jon tells me what those ten seconds actually felt like, the year of 1 AM panic attacks and EMDR therapy that followed, and how he rebuilt through his PSI Method: Power, Smart, Important. We get into survivor's guilt, why men need to talk it out, the barber who saved him, and how a tornado go bag turned the worst night of his life into a mission.
Real story, real heart, and a plan that might save your life.
Get Jon's book, The PSI Method, on Amazon.
Website: https://www.jonedlin.com
Tornado Go Bag: https://www.tornadosmart.com
Want to be a guest on Drink O'Clock? Send us a message on PodMatch here: podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/drinkoclock
We're live on another Thirsty Thursday. The best day of the week, because for some reason they called it Thirsty Thursday. I don't know what the history behind that is, but I guess it I'm guessing it's because Thirsty and Thursday start with the same letters. I don't know fucking know. I'm sure some internet troll will tell me back in 1870, here after they were putting horseshoes on horses. What's that? My wife is behind the green screen, and uh she told me it's because you're thirsty for the weekend. And I agree. I am pretty thirsty for the weekend. Uh but anyway, listen, guys, my guest tonight survived having his house completely destroyed by a tornado at one in the morning with his whole family inside the fucking house. Somehow, everybody made it out unharmed. Instead of moving on, this man built a business out of it. He's the founder of Edlin Tornado Solutions. He's a speaker, an author, and a guy who genuinely believes you can grow through the worst moments of your life. Welcome to the show, John. Thanks. Yeah, thanks for having me. Yeah, man. Cheers, brother. I know you're drinking an ITO.
SPEAKER_03That's right, yeah. So good. I love how you're like, instead of moving on, he did this. But that is part of the process of moving on from me, man. It was like, you know, the only way to move on for me was actually to do what I'm doing now. Really.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I mean, look, when I so I when I was going through your stuff, and um that's my first uh epic intro. I'm trying to do something a little new. It was epic, it was really good. Episode 155 or something. I'm like, ah, fuck it. I'll try something new today. Um because I think it's pretty cool, man. Um, you know, I well, obviously, I'm sure at the time it wasn't pretty cool, but um, I think your experience, and and that's that's what makes us human, right? It's the experiences in our lives that end up taking us to a particular place that you didn't think you'd ever be. That's right. Um now before we get into the fateful day and everything that happened, talk to me a little bit about growing up, dude. You know, what you know, um you could talk about what area you grew up in, where you're at, uh what you you know, what you got into, like, you know, and and growing up, man.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. So grew up in Kansas City, uh, just you know, normal suburban kind of life. Um Chiefs fan? A huge Chiefs fan. Uh and so like. Sorry about the Super Bowl. Well, you know, we had a we had a few good ones before that. So that's true. I just try to forget. That's right. That's right. Yeah. So yeah, I mean, in the 90s, though, like you had Joe Montana, you had Neil Smith, you had, you know, Derek Thomas and all this stuff. So 90s was pretty good. And then like 2000s, we just hit a real bad spot until Mahomes came and you know, we destroyed the Eagles that one time, and then you destroyed us. So I, you know, I get it. Um I'm actually listening. I'm listening to the Kelsey brothers um Audible book that they just came out called No Dumb Questions, and it's hilarious. So I feel like there's there's connection, right? Like between us now because you got the Kelsey's, you know, that we can we can connect on.
SPEAKER_00Um yeah, he's a staple here at this point. He's just a beer chugging, bearded guy that just he played, he his pinky would be fucking hanging off, and the dude would still play, dude. I mean, he's just you gotta respect it. You always gotta respect it.
SPEAKER_03No doubt. Yeah, it's a fun, it's been a fun book to listen to. I think it came out on Tuesday. Not that I'm doing a plug-on for them. Um, but if I am, like they could send me some money, you know. I'll have to take a look at it, right? Yeah. Um, but uh yeah, so I just grew up in Kansas City, uh, super normal, kind of like suburban life. Uh, and just to tie in, because a lot of people ask, like, oh, you grew up in Kansas City, you grew up in Kansas, so you must have like been around a tornado or like seen a tornado. It's like, nope. And then even when they hear that I was hit by a tornado, they're like, oh yeah, Kansas City, you probably got hit. Nope. Got hit in Nashville. I moved to Nashville. So so like I was in Kansas City, um, and then uh we moved out to Nashville in 2016, and then 2020 is when the tornado hit. So it's kind of ironic. It's like you come from Kansas where everybody's like, you know, oh, you're not in Kansas anymore, quote, and Wizard of Oz and stuff. And then we actually get hit by a tornado in Nashville. So the irony's uh definitely there. And then yeah, we moved back to Kansas City here uh four years ago. So that's where I'm at now, is my hometown. So Midwest boy.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome, man. So that's got to be pretty fucking wild. So I've been to Nashville once. We had a a meeting there for my my day job, and uh it was wild, man. I mean, it was uh I think it's wild.
SPEAKER_03Bachelorette uh party uh uh you know, party place.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so like I think our meeting was like on a uh it was either a Tuesday or a Wednesday. And we go down down to downtown Broadway, because um we had a bunch of like our our uh our age. I work in the insurance world, so a bunch of our uh brokers were say, you know, come down to here, this bar, whatever. So we went down and it's just fucking mobbed. There's buses, there's there's live music fucking everywhere. And I'm like, and I come from Philly, and it's not like our, you know, if you go to Center City, it's not like it's dead, but it's nothing like that.
SPEAKER_03Dude, it's it's an experience, no doubt. It is. And I I literally worked right there off of Broadway. Uh and so we would, I worked for a SaaS company out there, and uh anytime clients would come in, they just, you know, it's like it was almost like we call Nash Vegas, you know, because they just go crazy and they just be on Broadway, and there's literally Tootsie's. I don't know if you, you know, you probably went into a lot of different bars and stuff, but Tootsie's has three levels, and each level, each floor has a different house band.
SPEAKER_00We I think we did go there.
SPEAKER_03I think we did go there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. But that's where we did the Irish We did the Irish goodbye there. Me and my buddy looked at each other and he was like, he's like, yeah, I'm getting an Uber. I'm like, I'm coming with you. Because we uh we were on our feet, dude. I was on my feet for uh it had to have been like 12 or 13 hours. And I would have been cool if I was in my early 20s, but like I'll be 40 this year. So yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. You can't you can't do what you used to, no doubt.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. On my feet, and I mean, I was in at the time, I didn't know that Kohl Hans were a thing. So I was wearing $50 slip-on dress shoes that are not good for your legs. No. So, and I was like uh probably 50 pounds heavier at that time. So it was even worse on top of it. So uh, but it was wild, man. I mean, um that I heard at this point they're like I said, I always say that they're up and coming, but they're there. Like there's no up and coming. Like if you're trying to buy a house in Nashville, it is not cheap.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no doubt. I mean, yeah, we were we were renting because we were just priced out of the market and I had a good job, and you know, we should have been able to buy in like a normal area, but moving from Kansas City, we owned a house in Kansas City and uh just you know didn't didn't have the funds to to make it happen in Nashville. But uh but we live I mean we lived really close to downtown, like 10 10 uh minutes away from downtown. So yeah, so it was pretty cool like to work downtown, uh to you know, to live close to downtown. Like it it's a cool vibe, but it's also a lot.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean I I don't know if I could that that's like for me is a destination. I don't know if I could deal with that all the time because let's be honest, people fucking suck. For sure, man. Especially because you, you know, if you're dealing with Broadway, you're getting it's just like going to LA and going to, you know, the fucking um celebrity aisle, celebrity walk, right? And seeing the the stars and shit. It's the same concept, except it's just you know, all country bands and and drinking, whereas in LA it's just like a lot of homeless people and the celebrity stars, you know.
SPEAKER_03But I mean it's fun when people like come into town because you can show them a good time, but day to day, you're just like, I'm not going to Broadway, you know.
SPEAKER_00So what's like in Philly, it's like you try to, you know, if you come down here, uh well, I guess in your case, if you come over here, um, you know, it's like, oh, well, I'm gonna get a cheesesteak. Well, you're not getting it, don't go to the fucking G Pats and Genios. That's the place that you see on TV. You don't want that. That's not where Philadelphians go for a cheesesteak. And I'm sure if I if I came to you and said, hey, I want good barbecue, you're not gonna tell me to go to fucking mission barbecue. Right, right. You know, you're gonna be like, everyone has their spots for certain prices. Um I'm trying to think where I went. I was in Kansas City once. I'm trying to think where they took us for barbecue. What's like the two top spots?
SPEAKER_03Well, Joe's Joe's KC is so good. Yeah, Joe's KC is where I went. And they got the thing called the Z-Man. I don't know what you got there, but the Z-Man sandwich, I cried the first time I had it, is so good. I'm telling you, man. It's ridiculous.
SPEAKER_00That place ruined me for burn ends. Oh. I didn't know because like we don't have burn ends in Philly, dude. And if we do, it's it's like if I type in burn ends in Doordash, you're not getting shit. Like, it is it it like the beef just fucking melts in your mouth.
SPEAKER_01It is like that's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00If you're if you're listening to this, get burnt ends. I don't care where the fuck you are on the planet, burn ends change your life. I'm I'm thinking, I'm salivating, just thinking about it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. No, it's a I I even say it's a little bit like a crispy cream donut, where it does like melt. It just you put it in your and it just melts. And if it's good, it melts in your mouth. Oh, for sure.
SPEAKER_00If it's like Arby's burn ends, you know, it's not. You're gonna be like, uh, like what do you what are you doing there, you know? Yeah. But uh, all right, enough. I digress because that's what we do here on the fucking drink a clock podcast. Take us back to 107 a.m. March 3rd, man. What's the the last ordinary moment you remember before your whole life changed? You know, it's uh it's kind of an embarrassing one because he's like, I was taking a shit and it was it was a great shit.
SPEAKER_03Oh, no, that would actually be that would be funny. No, it was so, you know, growing up in Kansas City, you know a lot about tornadoes and and you kind of like think, oh yeah, you know, big tornadoes can come through and all that. But I thought I knew a lot about tornadoes, and literally that night before I went to bed, there was like a severe risk. And my wife was like, uh, you know, what would happen if we were in tornado? Because we don't have a basement. And I was like, ah, I was like, Nashville tornadoes, they just like skip on the hills. Like they're they're Nashville tornadoes aren't anything like Kansas tornadoes. Like, like they're they're there's small little weak tornadoes. We literally live in a valley.
SPEAKER_00So are you still getting shit for that?
SPEAKER_03Uh well, I shouldn't have to do it. 100%.
SPEAKER_00100%.
SPEAKER_01All right, go on.
SPEAKER_03So so I literally said that. It's like 10, it's like 10 o'clock at night. Like kids are in bed, they're five and seven at the time. Uh kids are in bed. We were watching, you know, the news and they had mentioned that, and I was like, ah, it's no big deal. So we go to bed, no, no worries. At 1 a.m., my alarm goes off on my phone, and it's like tornado warning, seek shelter immediately. Same thing. I'm just like, Nashville. You guys don't like I'm just like, whatever. I almost went back to bed, like honestly. Uh, but I was like, ah, I should probably get up and just check, you know. So I turn on the TV, and it was the same meteorologist gal, and she was like, her eyes were big. She's like, there's a tornado on the ground in East Nashville. And we're 10 miles east of East Nashville, like exactly. And I'm like, okay, holy cow, like it, because I could see on the radar, like, this is serious. So I kind of start to get a little bit panicky. I'm like, okay, we got to get everybody to the hallway because we don't have a basement. So put everybody, you know, into the hallway. Kids are like not even awake. They're just like half asleep, you know. It's 1 a.m. So it's like, uh, and I'm thinking we're just gonna kind of like be in the hallway, and then it's gonna, the tornado sirens are gonna stop and we'll be done. Like all the time, you know? And as soon as I go to shut the last door, because like we were in this little ranch house, and all the doors shut to the hallway, which ended up being good for us. It was an old house. I was getting ready to shut that last door, and I could hear the sound, and they talk about being like a train, but it's more like five jet engines that like rumble your chest and just absolutely terrify you. Like, you know, you're like, oh shit, like this is not good. And so I'm like, it's coming. I shut the door, jump on top of my little seven-year-old daughter, and as soon as I do, windows pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, and my ears pop. And then all this wind just is just like overtaking us, and it's bouncing us back and forth, back and forth in between the hallway. And I'm just like, this door behind me is gonna blow open. I'm just gonna be thrown into the front yard. And as soon as I thought that I mean it felt like 30 minutes, but it was probably like, I don't know, six seconds or 10 seconds, then it was just done. And it was just silence, and everybody was okay. And I looked around, everybody was, you know, we were all just kind of in shock of what was happening or what had happened.
SPEAKER_00And that's crazy, dude. That's so crazy.
SPEAKER_03What's going on? Like, this is this is like you don't know how to process what just happened. It was it was insane. Um, and so we did we uh I opened up the door because I'm like, there's glass everywhere, I gotta get shoes on, you know, because you don't want to step on glass. And I opened up the door to my kids' room, and it's like a movie scene. It's like orange sky, and all the trees and you know, neighborhoods just like look like a bomb went off. There's no ceiling, there's no wall. That's why I can tell you what the neighborhood looked like because there was no ceiling in our wall or anything. Like, it's just like crazy. And I just out of shock, like, just shut the door, and I looked at my wife and I was like, Well, their room's gone. And I was like, maybe I'll check our room. Maybe I can get your shoes. So I open up the door to their and brick wall, boom, right on top of our bed. Ceiling's gone, everything's gone. And I'm like, what are we gonna do? So you call 911, you know, right? Well, they're busy because it just went through East Nashville. So I'm like, aren't we supposed to hear like firefighters and policemen coming for us at this point? Nothing. And we're just there just alone, neighbors aren't out coming out, nobody's coming out, and we're just sitting there alone in this eerie silence, smelling propane, cut wood, mud. I mean, just all the smells. And I'm like, what what am I gonna do? Like it was just it was just an insane experience. Um, and a lot of shock, a lot of adrenaline. And uh, and then you just you just try to think through your options, and we had to get out of the house, but our driveway was completely blocked. The uh there was a huge tree that fell on both of our cars.
SPEAKER_00Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_03And it's like, okay, so I call my cousin. Of course it's 1 a.m. So my cousin's not answering. He lives just like 10 miles down the road, and he's not answering. So I call my dad in Kansas City and he picks up. And I was like, Dad, we just got hit by a tornado. Call Jamie until he picks up. Call my cousin until he so he does. And then he finally texts me. He's like, Okay, Jamie's on his way. Well, it took Jamie like two hours to get there, and when he did, he could only get like three blocks close. And so we're just like trying to like move the glass out of the way so the kids can like go back to sleep and kind of sleep in this like destroyed house. And then Jamie texts me, he's like, Hey, I'm three blocks up the road, I'm gonna try to get to you. There's power lines down, there's like trees down, it's just insane. But we just had to do the best we could, just trying to keep the kids safe, holding them, walking them three blocks up the road to get to my cousin's car, and then you know, we got we got to safety. So that was that was that night. It was crazy.
SPEAKER_00So so for for starters, the house had to be built pretty well. That at le at least you guys in the hallway didn't get affected outside of just kind of getting tossed around, right?
SPEAKER_03I mean, it's gonna be I will say this. I will give myself some credit here, which is you want to go into the innermost part of the house because a tornado, the way that it works is like it'll take the roof and the top, you know, the top floors off, obviously, and then the side walls cut cave in or suck out. So you want to be in the innermost part, and that's where we were in the hallway. And so that that is the good news. And uh, and it was, I mean, in a sense, you kind of get lucky too, because it was an EF3, which is not as big as an EF5. So if we were like in the Joplin tornado, no chance. Like, that's over.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_03You're done. So yeah, there's a lot of factors that go into it.
SPEAKER_00I've only seen obviously I born in born and bred here, so I've seen I haven't even seen it. I I dealt with one tornado when I was maybe seven and it had touched down like in our backyard, basically. Um and it but it just knocked a tree down. Like didn't smaller, like a smaller one, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Uh we don't get that like because like uh Philly's not like inland enough to miss some of it, but we're not Jersey, you know? So Jersey gets hit with the brunt of it. Sure. Umricanes where you know serious though. Yeah, where we were more on the outskirts, we weren't on like the inside where we're getting fucking decimated.
SPEAKER_03Um I don't like the I don't like all that water in hurricanes. Like hurricanes terrify me more than tornadoes because of all that water, it's like you get hit with the winds and then it's like you got flood and you're trying to get it, it sounds awful.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I don't know if I'd I don't know what I'd rather, you know. Like, do you do you rather a fucking like cat three or four hurricane or tornado, you know? So it's like we have a sump pump, so we live we actually live in an in-law suite in our in our in our house. Uh we could live upstairs, but um it's cooler down here. It's a you know, it's a fully redone basement, so but we have a sump pump down here that has probably saved our lives a couple times from some pretty crazy rain. Because sometimes, dude, we get fucking wild. The Northeast is weird, okay? And I've talked about this on the podcast a couple times, but we get the worst of the weather. Now we don't necessarily like we will get a tornado or hurricane, like we'll get those every now and again. But if it's hot, it's hot. If it's cold, it's fucking cold. Like we get the worst of both. Like, and it I don't know for you guys if it's been weird this year. Like we had a week where it was 85 degrees, and then for two weeks straight, it was in the 40s and 50s in April. And it, you know, we're like, I'm breaking out the shorts. I'm like, yeah. And then before you know it, I'm like, I'm still wearing fucking light jackets to work. And then we're at 98 degrees last week on Sunday, you know. So it's like we we don't get that middle ground weather at all here. Which I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I mean, you know, it it keeps you on your toes. And there's a lot of things like when I think about, yeah, the people who live just in that 72 degrees, you know, San Diego kind of weather, I'm like, you kind of miss a little bit of that extremism where you feel like, yeah, I'm going out, I'm putting on my coat. I'm gonna go out in this zero degree weather, like that kind of thing, which I kind of like. I hate the cold, dude.
SPEAKER_00I I really do. Um I you know, as as I've aged, snow has become a friend where it gets you, because in the past, right, before COVID, if it snowed really bad, work with close. There was no work from home. I could they're like, hey, we're closed, you're getting paid. Hallelujah. So I'm like, you know, I never forget we had a snow day once, and and the wifey's like sleeping, and they're like, Yeah, no work today. I got the text. And I'm jumping on the bed. And that was like yeah. And now it's like those days are gone. Yeah, now now because I work in an office, so it's like um they're more likely to just be like, hey, everyone stay safe, work from home. But there's no, you know, you get off and you get paid. That doesn't exist anymore, which fucking sucks.
SPEAKER_03I know. Those were the days. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_00Our generation is like, I don't know, man. I feel like it's one of a kind. Um we got to experience it. You know, I see a lot of TikToks, and maybe it's just because I'm nostalgic, but they show you things. It's like you see like that, the AI videos where it's like life in the 90s. And uh, you know, they're playing uh Pokemon on their Game Boy with a with a worm light, you know, and where they're trying to play it in the car with the street lights, you know?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And um, I saw a comedian making fun of CDs. He was he was saying, hey, you don't fucking understand what what we had to deal with. He's like, we had the internet on a CD, and I forgot about AOL on CDs. He said, What the fuck did the CD even do? You know, like true.
SPEAKER_03I don't know. Yeah. I just remember getting a bunch of them in the mail, and then, you know, I don't I don't even know what that was, but it was a lot of CDs.
SPEAKER_00AOL 3.0, 4.0. I don't I don't really know what the fuck any of it did.
SPEAKER_03But uh and like Discmens, you're you're in the car, you know, like you said, you're in the car, and then you hit a bump, and it's like, you know, and so you've got to get like the 30x, you know, skip protection, and that's like $80, or you could get the the 10% or the 10x skip protection, and all those things are just so funny to think back on.
SPEAKER_00I I'll never forget this. I don't know if I ever talked about this on the podcast, but I was uh my first job, I was a bag boy at Acme. It was um I grew up in King of Pressure, so it was probably like 10, five minutes from my house, not even it was 10 minutes maybe. And uh I would they would have me do carts, which is the fucking worst. If you're a card person, God bless you. Like you're fucking out there, it's 95 degrees, or it's snowing or it's raining, and you gotta wear a fucking tarp. It's just awful. Well, uh I was listening to M. I think it was his first CD, and I had a disc man, and in order to get shit done, I would run around the fucking lot. Like I wasn't like, I wasn't like the generation now, dude. You see the fucking cartoons now, they're just like taking their time. No, I was jogging, I went to get that shit done ASAP. There was not a single fucking cart in that whole parking lot that I didn't fucking have put away. And I'll never forget, I'm running so fast, and it's just constantly skipping. Constantly, every single time. And I'm like, I'm like, oh, this is so fucking annoying. You know, I wish they would change this. Uh, but here we are in the 21st century where you could just have magical music in your pocket.
SPEAKER_03That's right. That's right. Yeah, but we still we crave the vinyl records, even though, like, I don't know if you are, but I I I get the vinyl records and uh I don't know why, because we have great digital music, but I'm I'm just gonna listen to the vinyls.
SPEAKER_00There's just here's my rant of this episode, maybe. I don't know. There maybe there'll be another one. There's just so much shit for you to consume now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right? I mean, think about it when we were kids. Like you had to you had to wait for something to come on, and if you missed it, you're fucked. You're gonna wait for a rerun. And now it's like I could tape live TV if I want, or uh I have literally every streaming show that you could think of. Uh like I have Apple TV, I have Netflix, I have Peacock, I have uh I got rid of HBO Max because I'll wait until fucking Thrones comes out. But you know, it's like there's certain things that I'll have, and and I have access to 8,000 different shows and movies, and I don't watch a fucking one percent of it. Like, think about that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00This world, man, the world we live in. Um, I digress. So listen, what did that first week after the event look like for you? I mean, where does a family of your size like if I I'm guessing, like, look, if it's just you and your wife, it's a different story, right? I feel like it could be a little bit more adaptable. What's a family of your size? Where do you even go? Like, how do you handle that?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean, it it's something where you're really just trying to to mentally process what happened, and then you have to do like the actual logistic things, like get a car. And so it's crazy because that, you know, we're over at my uh cousin's house and the kids fall back asleep and you know, the guest bed, and it's at that point, it's almost six o'clock in the morning, and I'm starting to get texts from friends that are like, Hey, I saw a tornado hit, you know, around your house. Like, are you okay? And they're expecting a text back to be like, Yeah, fine. But instead, I'm like, house is gone, almost didn't make it out there alive. And then they're like, Well, what can I do to help? And so that's what I had to do was like get a car, find a place to live. So we uh got an extended stay hotel place for like two weeks. Not ideal, like for a family of four, but um, but it worked. And then you got to remember this happened March 3rd, 2020. So what happens two weeks later? COVID.
SPEAKER_00Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_03Which in some ways was nice because the whole world shut down. So I didn't have to go into the office anymore. I remember going back into the office after tornado, and then three days later, they're like, everybody out of the office, like you know. So it was nice because then we got to do like just kind of all just be together, and we ended up renting a house down the road from where the house was destroyed. Because I mean it was completely destroyed. They had to like everything, total loss, everything inside of it, even the things that we thought we could keep, had so much insulation and stuff like that inside the uh the cloth and and all over the place, like we just had to to throw it away. So it's like all that logistic stuff that happens where you're like have to have to kind of take it one step at a time and deal with it, but you're also like mentally trying to figure it out. So crazy story at 1 a.m. every single night for three months, I would wake up and I would relive the whole thing. And it was like on the dot. It was crazy. Like I would wake up in like a panic and I'd be like, oh, what time? And I'd look at the clock. It's like 1 a.m. It was like Groundhog's Day, like it was just crazy, like it was every single night, and I would literally shake, and I would have to go like some, like I would get out of bed, and because we were like in a little hotel, you know, for a while, like I went to the bathroom and I just started uh putting in my notes section in my cell phone, like listed out everything that happened, like trying to take it each moment at a time because your brain's trying to process all that. So I'm doing that in the middle of the night, and then I wake up in the morning and I gotta like figure out, you know, call insurance and get the kids uh uh uh all their different stuffed animals that they lost and try to find those on Amazon and have them shipped to our house and all these different things. Well, you're also grateful that you didn't get hurt. I mean, this tornado was on the ground for 63 miles, it killed 25 people. Damn. So you're also kind of almost dealing with this survivor's guilt in a sense, as well, of like, well, why did we survive? But then also a little bit upset because it's like, well, the house next to us, the way the tornadoes work, it's like the house next to us didn't even lose a shingle. And it's like, why wouldn't we be in that house? So you got all these like different emotions that are happening on top of the fact that you have to logistically figure stuff out. And it took a long time for me to even be able to retell the story like I did to you. Uh, it took over a year because I had to end up going to counseling and doing this thing called EMDR, which is like this eye movement um thing. I don't know if you've heard of it before, but it was crazy, but it actually unlocked the trauma in my body. And uh, and it helped me be able to like tell the story without shaking. So you know, so it's just it was it was a long road, uh, for sure.
SPEAKER_00Is it kind of like uh like hypnotherapy? I've had a couple hypnotherapy people on the show.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean, um it, yeah, because like your eyes, you're you close your eyes, and and for me, I think different therapists do it differently, but they had like headphones on, it was like beep, beep, beep, back and forth. And so your eyes kind of go back and forth, just like I would assume hypno. I haven't done hypno stuff, but um, and then it allows your brain to kind of unlock that trauma, and then the counselor that guides you through and says, Okay, like imagine you're on a train and you're driving past this memory of what it was like in the hallway, you know, and then I have to kind of say that while it's beep, beep, beep just for like two minutes. And as I'm saying it, I had never been able to say it before. Like if somebody asked me that without the little beep beep in my ear, I wouldn't do it. I just wouldn't even go there. My brain's like, nope, not gonna say it. And I'll just be like, I don't know, I don't know, I don't remember. But instead, like for whatever reason, with that beep beep thing, it unlocked it and I was able to say it, and my whole body was shaking while I was saying it. And then we just kept doing we did like six sessions like that. And then after the six sessions, I was like, oh, wow, I can talk about this. It was it was crazy. It was crazy.
SPEAKER_00Look, man, I I was gonna be a psychologist growing up. That's that's where me and the wife met. I met her in college in a psychology class.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, and it's an obsession of mine, is learning how the the brain works. And it's wild to think, like, especially now in today's day and age, um, you know, we have all this technology, but it's something as simple as a beep beep and talking about it that that can get you through a trauma. Where in the past they'd be like, well, here you either here's a pill or uh get over it, be a man, right? And right.
SPEAKER_03I'm which I wouldn't have been opposed to the pill. Like I wouldn't have uh been opposed to that, but I I wanted to try this first. And a friend had told me about it, and I was like, okay, I'll try it. And I'm glad I did because it it worked. I was surprised. I didn't expect it to work, but it did.
SPEAKER_00Look, I'm a big proponent of take meds when you need them. That's right. Right. Um my stepdad growing up, and my stepmom, who is no longer with us, uh had bipolar. And they, I mean, it never goes away, you know. So they they they need meds. Yeah. I don't think everybody needs medication. Um, you know, I'm all about talking it out if you can. But sometimes, man, you know, especially when you go through trauma and shit like that, man, dude, the the id ego, all that shit just absorbs all of that. And then it just never fucking goes away unless you find a way to bring it, bring it out.
SPEAKER_03Right. Well, I mean, let me tell you like where I was like struggling the most. So anytime there was a severe weather threat that happened, my mind would literally just turn off, it'll go into fight, flight, or freeze, and I would freeze. Like I couldn't think. So I remember I was in sales at the time, and I was back in the office, you know, because this is a whole year after a tornado, and I would be like on a sales call, and then I would get a little alert on my phone that didn't, it wasn't like tornado warning, tornado watch, anything. It was just like severe weather expected tonight. And I would just shut down. Like I could not do anything. And I have to tell my boss, like, I gotta go. So I would then just lay in the bed, I would go home, I would lay in bed, shaking, and just refresh the radar until the storm passed for hours, like four or five hours. So that's where I was at. And then it was actually my barber who told me about the eye movement thing. And uh, and I was like, Yeah, man, I'll try anything. So I did that, and it literally took that away. So big fan of that.
SPEAKER_00Wow. So, so how is it for you now? Like, do you still have kind of that a little bit of PTSD or not at all, dude.
SPEAKER_03So, so the way that I tested this, you know, Twister, the movie right from the 90s, and you know Twisters.
SPEAKER_00Twister one is the best, the is the best movie.
SPEAKER_03Right, but Twisters came out, the Twister Two, uh, what, like a year ago, maybe or two? Maybe in the theater. Okay, yeah, it's pretty simple recently. That was my test. So I went to the movie theater, and I'm like, if I can if I can feel all this with like all the, you know, I'm like, then that EMDR shit worked, right? And uh, and so I sat there and I'm like, let's go. And I came out of there feeling great, and I was like, done. And I mean, think about it, and you know, I'm like you mentioned, author, speaker. That's what I speak about. I speak about tornado safety. I tell my story all the time. And I wouldn't be able to do that without having gone through that. Uh, I watch storm chasing videos. Uh, I like if whenever there's a tornado warning here, it's okay because, well, one, we have a basement, so that's that's nice. Uh, but we have a plan and like we know about it, and like I know when it's coming, and I've just like I've I've really jumped into education, and I wouldn't have even been able to do the education if I wasn't uh like healed from all the trauma because uh my brain just wouldn't have allowed me to immerse myself in uh tornado education without you know getting past that trauma that was kind of the roadblock. So now I get to like speak, I just speak about overcoming adversity, I speak about uh tornado safety and training, especially to like kids and help them with their storm anxiety. Because a lot of kids have storm anxiety who've never seen a tornado, never been around a tornado, but they just, you know, it can be scary in the middle of the night to hear loud thunder and hear the tornado sirens go off. That can be a scary thing. But if you know that you have a plan, like your storm anxiety goes way down. So I get to see that every day. And I just, I just freaking love it. Like it's amazing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I I have a buddy uh that I work with, Dustin, who is shout out, Dusty, who's who is afraid of heights. And like, dude, I flew with him. He like white knuckles, you know, as we're flying. And he he's still to this day, he's gotten a lot better because he flies a lot more, but uh he still, you know, will get a little jittery and he always ends up getting the flight that's like just fucking stupid, right? You know, it's like has a pressure drop or something crazy. But yeah um he he actually tried to get rid of his fear of of flying by going skydiving. He's done it twice. Yeah. And love that uh that's awesome. It has not necessarily fixed it a hundred percent, okay, but it's got it got him to the point where he has two Tito's and he gets on a flight, he's good, you know. But that's amazing. Um I think it's funny how you know, if you have an issue like that, you just take it head on.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. I think, you know, I'm sure everybody's different, but definitely for me, that was the way to go. And uh, gosh, like so glad. So glad I did.
SPEAKER_00You know what we need to do? We need to get you in the sphere in Vegas when they're doing the uh the Wizard of Oz shit.
SPEAKER_03No, I I 100% wanted to do that. Like, I thought that would be I saw a CBS Sunday morning about it. Yeah, I love CBS the other morning. Um, I guess because I'm 40, right? And that's like I gotta be old.
SPEAKER_00It's a 40 thing to say. You're not sure. You're not 40.
SPEAKER_03I'm over 40, so I love CBS Sunday morning. Um, but but yeah, no, it was, and I was like, I gotta go, but I never ended up going out there. I don't think they're doing it anymore. But if they if they open that back up, man, let's go. You and me buying tickets to Las Vegas, let's go.
SPEAKER_00100%, dude. So Vegas, you know, for my listeners, they're they'll probably let you know, they know that it's me and the wifey's favorite place to go. I love Vegas because we're not morning people. We're we're we're night people. We've always been that way. So, like, you know, I like taking a nap at 7 p.m., getting up at 10, and then just going. Like, because if you're in Vegas, dude, there's no clocks. You don't fucking know what time it is. We'll know what time it is. You're fucking gone. We, we the last time we were there, this maybe two or three years ago. Uh, we we passed, we're like, we look at each other, and you know, we're we're in our 30s, so we're like, let's take a nap. We take a nap. We get up at like 10:30, we're like, all right, let's go gamble. You know, you just go down and gamble.
SPEAKER_03Love it. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00There's no uh there's just something special in my heart about Vegas. It's not quite like Nashville in terms of the streets, but the uh the the gambling scenario, which I I I love gambling. It's it's just a beautiful thing. I'm not a degenerate gambler, but I'm a degenerate enough to enjoy it, you know.
SPEAKER_03Right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Now it's everywhere. You can fucking gamble. I can gamble on like if I'm gonna fart in a CVS tomorrow and call shit.
SPEAKER_03You know, is somebody gambling on this podcast right now, you think? Like on what we're gonna say.
SPEAKER_00100%. They're like, all right, tornado guy, how many times is he gonna say tornado? Is it over under 10, 10 and a half, you know? Um so look, you so you talk about the simple way to not just survive adversity, but to grow through it. Walk us through, you know, you got a lot of people that talk about that, right? Just grow through it. What does that actually mean?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I, you know, I mean, it was one of those things where I kind of had to go back and look at what were things that I did, like what were the beliefs that I had right afterwards where I had to make a choice on like how this was gonna define me. And and so, you know, I came up with this thing uh called the PSI method, a little cheesy, but you know, that's that's just what you do. If you're gonna write a book or whatever, you're gonna make it cheesy. Gotta make it memorable. That's right. So I wrote a book, PSI method. It's on Amazon. Uh, if you know, type that in. So the PSI method is exactly like PSI is gonna be like a tire, you know, where you got to fill up a tire, the PSI.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_03And uh and after an averse pressure per square inch. That's right. You know it.
SPEAKER_00Hell yeah, baby. Let's go.
SPEAKER_03So, you know, like after an inverse situation, you might feel like your tire's deflated, like life's a little deflated, so you got to pump it back up. And uh, and the P is gonna stand for power, which is I have the power to choose how I'm going to react to this adverse situation. So I had a choice of saying, like, okay, am I gonna play the victim mentality and be like, oh, so sad for me, I was hit by a tornado. Because I could have, like, I could have been, that was fine. Or I could say, hey, like, this is something I'm gonna learn from, grow from, and teach others about. And uh, and so you have the power to choose that. Then smart, I had to remind myself, that's what the S stands for, smart. Because I had to remind myself that I was actually smart because I was kicking myself for like not knowing enough about insurance, right? Because we're not all insurance people.
SPEAKER_00Insurance, I work in the Medicare field specifically, and it's it's fucked up, man. Yeah, it's uh it's it's not easy to navigate.
SPEAKER_03So if you can imagine, like after you lose your house and you're going through this like traumatic event and you're scared of storms, and then you got to go talk to this insurance person who knows everything about insurance, and they're like, well, you got to fill out the PSI and the Pla-la- And I'm like, the what? And it's like all this stuff, but you got to remind yourself that you're smart, and just because you don't know everything about that area, you can find a friend who does. And and you don't need to be kicking yourself because I gotta go to bed, she'd be like, oh man, I'm so dumb. Oh, I don't know anything about this, and that kind of thing. So there's a choice to remind yourself that you're smart. And then the I is for important, that you're important enough to get help. Because I did wait a pretty long time before I decided to get that EMDR treatment. And I think that was just because I was like, oh no, I gotta make sure everybody else is okay, like, and kind of feel like I'm not important enough to work on myself. And so that's what I tell people is like, if you know somebody who's going through an adverse situation, make sure that you tell them, like, hey, you're important enough to get the help that you need. And if you're going through an adverse situation, remind yourself you're important. So it's power, smart, important. That's how you fill that tire back up. And uh, and that's just like looking back at what the past six years have been like for me. Those are the things that I had to do in order to overcome adversity.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome, dude. And I mean, look, think about it, like, and you know, I have a lot of I have a a lot of male listeners. So um we as males over the century, as well, probably forever have been told, suck it up, be a guy, don't talk about it, don't cry. Um, I know, you know, obviously more recently in today's society it's changed quite a bit, but it's still be a man, suck it up. So um I always implore people, you gotta talk it out, man. Like whether that's like if you're afraid to go talk to a professional, at least talk to your significant other. If you don't have a significant other, talk to a parent. And if you don't have a parent, talk to a friend. If you don't have a friend, uh you should probably talk to a professional, you know. Right. There's always so many things you can go through. Yeah, there's always so many things you can go through. You could pay for a counselor who can be your friend, you know. Um, but I think even just sometimes just talking about it can really relieve a lot of those things because you know, you might act out without realizing it. Um, you know, in some cases you might wake up and just not want to get out of bed. And sometimes it's good to have someone you can text and say, Hey, I don't feel like getting out of bed. And they say, Hey, get out of bed, man. Life, life is good, you're good, you're you woke up alive, move on. And um, I think that that that is important, you know, and look, not everybody has all of that, so I get it. Um, but you know, if you seek it out, like don't just don't just ignore it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. No, I think I think that's good. And like you mentioned, for guys for whatever reason, that's just been hardwired into us, but you can't do that. And I think that was a big part of it for that year for me, was just like, all right, like I'm I'm the dad. I'm gonna, I got this, you know, I gotta be strong. You know, you leave it to your barber to be like, bro, like you can do this. And and I think that's one of the cool things, just real quick, also like if you don't have a friend, uh talk to your barber, right? I mean, it was the cool thing about in Nashville, it was um it was a one-chair barber shop, and I'd been going for five years. And the dude, his name's Stephen Mason, was just incredible. And was I mean, just it was just he was his life-saving and he knows it, you know. And and in the book I put, I say, like, be somebody's barber, like Steven was to me. Um, because like you never know. I mean, that that I think that's an important message that I want to say is just like look out for the people who've been through an adverse situation, look out for the people who are struggling and be their barber, be like let them know that they're important. Um, because gosh, like I needed that and I didn't even know I needed it. But I was glad that he he knew I did.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. And I'm look, man, I think it's just about being human, you know. Um, you know, I I've talked about this on my podcast uh you know plenty of times, but my brother's an addict. He's uh four years sober, you know. I have a a nephew now, and he's he's got a life. And I always I always tell him, like, hey, if you ever need someone, talk to me. And anytime I ever, I always I always try to be for some some I'm like a magnet for people when they have issues. I don't know what it is. Uh I think I would have I think I actually would have made a pretty good therapist in life. Uh, but I always tell people, man, like, yeah, look, if you're going through it, text me, call me, you know. And I think we as people, if you have friends or family that are struggling, just just throw out that olive branch. You don't need to do much, you know, and you'd be surprised how many people will take it.
SPEAKER_03That's right. Yeah. Yep. I love that.
SPEAKER_00And I think that there's we need more of that in humanity. Uh and with the with social media and the presence of people being happy all the time, that's bullshit. It's always bullshit. You know, not everybody's happy 24/5. But they have to throw a smile on, um, you know, just to to make sure that the listeners are like, oh, or their their viewers are you know great. I'll be the first person to tell you if I'm in a fucking bad mood. Half the time, if like if I'm in a mood, sometimes I'll get in a mood to a point where I'm like, I don't even feel like doing this podcast. And I'll be like, hey, something happened at work and I'll cancel because I'm just yeah, I can't. I I I so before this podcast, I streamed, and streaming video games is just a different beast. And I I always tell people are always like, oh, you you made money doing video games. And and yeah, that's that's the concept, but you have to be on 24-7.
SPEAKER_03For sure, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and and you're a sales guy. I was a sale, I did sales for most of my life up until recently, and you have to be on. Yeah, and if you're off, you're not making money that day, or if you are, it's not much. Oh, for sure. Yeah, 100%. And there's nothing you can do about that, you know? It's like uh so just I think the point is is just go fucking talk to people. And it's it's important as we as humans, you can't necessarily go through everything in life alone. Um so uh now when did the idea for Edlin Tornado Solutions click? Was there a specific moment? Did it build slowly? Were you thinking about it, you know, after you, you know, did your your treatment? Like, you know, how'd that come about?
SPEAKER_03I mean, I think it definitely built slowly because organization that I was in had a lot of young dads, and uh, and a lot of them came out and like helped clean up the house and all that kind of stuff. And then I'd be eating lunch in the cafeteria and they'd be like, John, like I can't even imagine what I would do. Like if my family was sit by tornado, like, and they would ask me all these questions, not about adversity, but like about like literal like logistics, like where would my family go and all that. So I was hearing that enough to be able to write kind of this. I wouldn't even call it a book. It's like a small little pamphlet called the Tornado Survival Guide. But I made it small on purpose so that like dads would just like read it while they're sitting on the crapper, you know? Just can't you can just read it that fast, right? It's like a pisser book, I guess is what they call it. Uh and so it doesn't take very long to read. And it just kind of interweaves my story, but then like talks about the myths and talks about exactly what you would do. And I just did that on Amazon and just put it out there. Um, and people were still like, yeah, but like you said I need a go bag, like to pack everything. Like, what would go in there? And I'm like, oh my gosh, like, do I have to do this for you? You know, apparently I do. And so uh, so yeah, so then I did, and I created like a tornado go bag. And so then now I got this product that's like this tornado go bag. I got speaking engagements and I got a book. And I'm like, let's just make Edlin Tornado Solutions. So it did kind of like evolve into uh something. And so now you can get the tornado go bag, you can get the tornado survival guide inside that bag, and I did a recording of like six uh video sessions, so people can go even deeper. That comes with the bag as well. So it's like the bag comes with education, it comes with lantern and uh first aid kit and all the stuff, you know, that I wish I would have had. So it's like a pre-packed bag, so you can just like get it and forget it, kind of thing. So it's it's been fun because I think it's it's hidden uh a need that was out there, especially for young dads uh who wanted just to be like, I don't know what I'm doing, you're a survivor, tell me what to do, and click, and they can forget it.
SPEAKER_00So that's awesome, dude. Now, you know, Melinda and the kids live through this with you, dude. So how do you feel like it's changed your family?
SPEAKER_03Oh gosh. Well, I mean, it is interesting. Even we were talking a little bit where I started to talk about vinyls, you know, vinyl records a little bit. Yeah. Uh it's it's interesting because there was a time, I feel like I'm just now getting to this time where I'm not thinking about everything that I could lose in a tornado again. And I and I've seen that with the whole family. It's like we're not super materialistic and haven't been, especially early on. It was like, well, should I even get this? Because, you know, it doesn't matter, which is a it's a good thing. Um and it helps you like prioritize everything. So I feel like going through something like that saves you some money. It saves you some money and just junk, you know, and just like filling up with a bunch of junk because you know, like in you know, three seconds it can be gone. So I think there's been that, and then also just this idea that you can take something like that and get on the other side and help and save people's lives because of something you've been through. And then the other thing that I would mention is the community. Uh, seeing the community come around us and the people just who came out of the woodwork right after the tornado was incredible and incredible, like um, just an amazing, beautiful picture of humanity and a society that's there to help others, even when they didn't know us. Like we would always go to the house, and there were probably like a dozen people there cleaning up that we didn't even know. It was just it was humbling, it was just incredible. So, so I think that kind of look on life has been incredible for all of us.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um, do you have any mementos from the house? Were you able to keep any anything that you still have today?
SPEAKER_03Well, yeah, I mean, it's interesting because in the moment I didn't want to keep anything. You know, I would just wanted as like, I don't want to blame this happening. Yeah, yeah. But one of my friends texted me, he's like, make sure that you take like a brick, because when we found out like the house was going to be completely demolished, he's like, take a brick. So I have a brick and it's actually I can see it right over there. And I'm so glad I did. Yeah. So I got so I got the brick. Um, and then honestly, not not not a whole lot else because nothing else was like, you know, I could keep. Um, but I'm glad that I grabbed that brick and I'll I'll always have that brick.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I guess it reminds you of the fragility of of things, you know. I mean, I guess we get so set in our ways, and it's very quickly life life throws people for loops, man. Um, I I think it's never just uh I mean, look at all the things that our generation has been through, man.
SPEAKER_03I mean COVID 9-11. Like I was telling my kids kind of what it was like, like at 9-11 uh, like like what was that day like? And I was like, look, thinking back, I was like, that was crazy. And I was just in Kansas, you know, I can't imagine people who are closer to the whole thing, but like for me, it was just dude, we've lived through some weird stuff.
SPEAKER_00Well, where were you when it happened?
SPEAKER_03I was at in school, like I was in uh it was sophomore year of high school, and I remember that first hour, like it came over the speaker that you know this had happened, and then all the teachers were watching on TV if we could get like the TV on in there, and and it was just the weirdest feeling to the day. And I remember walking home with my friend, and I was like, Well, I guess we're gonna be drafted into the army, you know, because like we just assumed this was like World War III. It's like, well, all right, I guess I don't need a plan for anything out of high school because I know where I'm going. And uh yeah, it was just a weird day.
SPEAKER_00Wild time. Yeah, I had my dick in my hand. I was taking a piss. They went over the loudspeaker, you know, and I guess they made the announcement in high school. Yeah, yeah. And uh I was in uh marketing. I took a marketing class, it was an elective, and uh, you know, I was taking a piss and I walked back into the class and they had, you know, I know kids listening to this. We had giant tube TVs that had straps on them on a fucking rack. No doubt. Yeah. That they they rolled into the room, and you're like, I'm like, what the fuck? Why are we we were just learning about something else? Why are we why are we watching this? Okay, and yeah, and we actually watched the fucking second plane hit the tower.
SPEAKER_03Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00Wow, and we're just like, what the and you know, I go home, my dad's like, you're not going to school tomorrow. I don't want, I don't know what the fuck's going on, but you're not going to school tomorrow. And I think a lot of people just didn't go to school the next day. Um wild to think what our generation. Now we didn't live through a world war technically, right? I mean, not World War II people, but you know, stock market crash after that. I mean, COVID, the pandemic, I mean, that was that's changed a lot of things. So I I always tell people, man, it's it's uh being a millennial, which is technically I guess what we are, is it's just a wild phenomenon that we we all the crazy shit we live through, you know?
SPEAKER_03So true. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Now, what is a common misconception about tornadoes that you think actually gets people hurt?
SPEAKER_03Um, you know, I think it's that it won't be that bad. Kind of like how we started off a little bit the conversation where you said, like, oh yeah, I had one, it was in my backyard, and it just snapped a few trees. And sometimes that's people just take that and they're like, Oh, you know, that's all there is. And and I kind of was doing that same thing too, where it was like, oh, Nashville, like you know how big tornadoes are.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's just gonna bounce off the the mountains.
SPEAKER_03Right. And and so it's just that like you're just assuming that's what's what it's gonna be, or when the tornado sirens go off, you assume like that it's gonna be real small or whatever. But the thing is, is even if it was small, like uh if you understand tornadoes, you can understand it can start off as an EF zero, the smallest one, and grow to EF4 or whatever, which is gonna be extremely violent in a matter of seconds. And so you like you literally don't know what's gonna go roll over top of your house until it does. And so just a lot of the misconceptions, just like, oh, it's not that big of a deal, it won't happen to me. Or if it does, it's gonna be super light, it's no big deal. But man, when you're in there in the moment and it's rolling on top of you, you're like, I wish I would have been prepared. Like, I wish I wouldn't have believed all these myths, you know, that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00Uh can you explain what what's that system? What is an EF for? Oh yeah. What does that system look like?
SPEAKER_03So it stands for enhanced fajita scale. It's actually a really interesting story about the guy, Ted Fajita, um, who is the one who came up with that scale, like I think in the 60s, uh it was just called the Fajita scale back then. And then with more technology and everything, they kind of had to make it more enhanced Fajita scale because they could kind of like determine it's like a hurricane scale. It's like determined the wind speeds and uh and the destruction that was done. So you have like everybody's familiar with the 2011 Joplin, Missouri tornado. That was an EF5. It was gigantic, and it was just like mowing down houses and just throwing cars and semis. I mean, that's super rare. That only happens once or twice a decade, thankfully.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_03Um, but then your EF zero is gonna be like what was in the back of your house. You know, it's like 65 mile per hour winds and knocks over a lawn chair, and you're like, I survived a tornado, you know? Yeah, you're like, yeah, silly, yeah. So you got, you know, zero, one, two, and then a three is the one that I survived, which uh will uh, like I mentioned, like take apart your walls and your ceiling and all that kind of stuff. Then the E of four is gonna be obviously in between the three and the five, which will it will toss some cars, like lightweight cars, and it will it will do a lot more damage uh than the than the three. So it's just kind of like understanding how quickly these can change. And a lot of times they don't know, like when they're looking at the radar, they don't know if it's a one or three or a five uh yet, and that it can grow. They don't know if it can grow or if it can't grow and that kind of thing. And so you really have to take it seriously because it can just change in a moment's notice.
SPEAKER_00That's crazy, man. Um all right. Well, let's end on this. You had five minutes, basically, right? From warning to impact that night. For someone listening right now, they don't have a fucking plan. Maybe they're in Kansas or they're in who God knows where. What should they do with their next five minutes?
SPEAKER_03So as soon as there is uh a warning on your phone, you need to get to the innermost part of your house or the basement or somewhere, right? Away from windows, because that's what kills people in tornadoes is the debris. And so you have to ideally you'd be thinking about that now. Like listening to my story. I hope that you're taking it seriously, and you're like, well, where would I go in my house? You know, and so you know where you're gonna go because obviously that can help you get there a lot quicker. And then if you have time, like you're gonna want to grab your laptop. Like I didn't have my laptop, it got smashed. You're wanna grab like keys and wallet and those types of things that literally are just scattered across your yard and you can't find them. So you're gonna want to have those things with you if possible. I've heard some people say, like, open up a window so the uh windows don't pop. And I'm like, that that's stupid. Like, you don't want to spend your five minutes opening up windows because here's the thing windows open or not, they're gonna pop.
SPEAKER_00Like it's over. If they don't pop, the wall's gonna smash in or it's gonna fly we tried to save here, like a little window.
SPEAKER_03Um, so yeah, so don't do that. Don't run around and open up windows, but go ahead and the the main thing is to get in that innermost part of your house. And then if you can, like have a hoodie, like cover up, get shoes on, those types of things, get mattresses, blankets, whatever you can to keep from debris from hitting you. So, you know, that that's the number one thing. Just protect yourself from the high winds.
SPEAKER_00And you had mentioned your your to-go bag. Is there, is there like um kind of a set couple things that you think everyone should have in their to-go bag?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I, you know, it's definitely first aid kit because if you get cut, like you're gonna want to have gauze pads and you know, just a good first aid kit. Um, and then light, even though you have like your phone, uh, for us, like one of the things that was kind of sad is like we had the light on our phone and we would like walk around trying to find stuff, and then the kids are kind of like left in the dark, you know. So I wish we would have had like a lantern so that we could have had an area where we all were where there was enough light. Um and then a whistle, a lot of times I say like throw a whistle in there because if you're underneath that you're trapped underneath, you can blow that whistle and emergency crews can find you. So uh those are those are the three main things that we pack in our tornado go bags. Of course, you can add all sorts of different things, uh, like a dog's leash if you have a pet. Uh, you know, those kinds of things are are helpful. But for the most part, you just want to make sure you have quick access to first aid and light.
SPEAKER_00That makes sense. And half the time you're not thinking about that shit, man. I'm cozy here in my basement. Like, you know, I'm not thinking about making sure my dog leash is in there or you know, like I have a first aid. I don't even, I mean, we have bandages and shit, but I don't think I have a legit first aid kit here. So uh great stuff, man. Great stuff. Well, look, um, tell my listeners where can they find all your stuff? I know that your book is on Amazon.
SPEAKER_03Um yeah, the the tornado go bag they can just buy on tornadosmart.com. Tornadosmart.com, and you just go there and it's like I said, one click, you get everything you need, get it shipped to your house, and then you just set it, forget it. Kind of thing. It's the way to do it, man. Be smart, right? Be smart around tornadoes, tornadosmart.com. That's it.
SPEAKER_00Dude, love it, man. Love it. And then uh and your website too. Plug your website.
SPEAKER_03Uh well, so yeah, they got johnedlin.com, um, just my my full name, J-O-N-E-D-L-I-N.com, and then uh tornadosmart.com. Uh, you know, you can go there as well.
SPEAKER_00Well, if you ever need somebody to do an audiobook for your book, you let me know. Oh. Um I would love to do it for you. Uh I like that. I just say that because I'm an audiobook guy. I listen to audiobooks every day. So uh you should you should definitely think about doing that. And I got the wifey listen audiobooks, which she said they're not books, and I I beg to I beg to differ on that, but we'll have our argument after the fact.
SPEAKER_03Love it.
SPEAKER_00Um now my podcast is drink clock pod on all socials, drink a clock podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and uh we'll have this up soon, man. It was a pleasure having you on. And uh shit, dude, you got me thinking about fucking tornadoes now, so I gotta make sure I have a to-go bag.
SPEAKER_03Love it. Sounds good. Thanks, man.
SPEAKER_00Have a great night, man.
