Tornado close calls when I was little

When I was four, an EF4 tornado went near the pre-school I went to at the time. I remember being terrified. I remember that there was stuff thrown around INSIDE THE MAIN ENTRANCE OF THE BUILDING. Flash forward some years (I would have been 8 or 9) and I saw one. My dad was taking me to school and I saw a "cloud"... I said "Dad that looks like a tornado." My dad said "We'll be fine." It went over the car. Fortunately, nothing got destroyed if I remember correctly. Moral of the story: don't live in Indiana.