Aftermath

I don't know if it was actually the "storm of the century" but close enough. Watching the images of destruction on TV brought back thirty one year old memories. I remembered when I was four on April 3, 1974. That was the day when one of the hundred and thirty three tornadoes that swept through Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio hit our home. We barely made it out. My grandparents lived a few hundred yards away and we took refuge there - they always said that "the tornado stopped at the edge of the porch."

My memories of that day are mostly silent. I mainly only remember images, except for the one memory of my dad running into the house yelling, "Get out! A tornado's coming!" My mom and I were in the kitchen that day - I remember looking out the window over the sink and seeing only a lone, tiny cloud. I remember the wind blowing so hard as we ran from the Jeep to my grandparents' house. I remember looking out the front door when it was all over and not seeing the house. All that was left was a pile of debris in the field across the road.

Once the current situation is over for the folks on the Gulf Coast, there will be nightmares. There will be anxiety whenever a storm passes overhead. My hope - my prayer - is that the people recover quickly and not the twelve or thirteen years it took me.

So mote it be.

edited to add: NOAA states the amount of tornadoes that day was 148. I'd always heard 133 but who am I to argue with NOAA?