Since I first heard Miranda Lambert's song The House that Built Me I was in love. There are so many things about the house that we grow up in. Maybe where we had our first kiss? Maybe where we said goodbye? Maybe it was where we learned how to walk? No matter what the memory they are powerful and there is a strong association to the memory and the house.
At 2:00 this morning I was up watching the weather and praying for God to keep my family safe. At 3:00 we started to call our family to make sure that they were awake and watching the weather. At about 3:20 we got the boys up and headed downstairs to watch the weather. From there my timeline is off and there has not been anytime to read the paper, no Internet to read online, even my 3G was up and down which took out the cell option. But what I know is we got into the closet under our stairs when it was coming through CenterPoint. We got out to try to find out where it was. We thought it was past but not sure. We started to try to call and text but the lines were so jammed. As we did get to people we were thankful that they were safe but the story was just getting started.
The tornado ripped through Clay, AL. This is my hometown. This is where my family lives. This is where Brandon's family lives. Friends and their families all in this one town that until today was still a place in Alabama that so many people did not know existed. It is an amazing community, it was before it was a City, and is today. Clay is a family and today they showed it.
We knew that Brandon's mom, pop, Aunt B, and Meemaw were safe and that they had no damage. We knew that mom was safe as well as my grandmother and uncles who live down the street. We knew that friends and family were safe despite having nothing left. The tears of loss, the anger of the destruction, the fact that everything has changed in a few seconds will come but today we were truly thankful for the lives that were spared. To say we were blessed is an understatement. The fact of miracles were ever present today as house after house the words we are okay were uttered.
The first time I arrived on my mom's street it hit me that the house I grew up in was going to be gone. While it is still standing the foundation has cracked in several placed, and that is just the start of the damage. The thing is the woods that I used to "get lost in" with friends, just so we could make getting out an adventure were gone. The basketball goal that I learned to play 21 on was gone. The landscape was changed and my heart was broken. I am so thankful for the safety of everyone that is what cannot be replaced, but there is something about walking down a street that you know as well as you know your own hand and finding out that you have never seen it before.
There are many pictures I could have used, but this is of my old bedroom.
This is not a message that ends tonight, but for tonight I am done. More to come soon. I am exhausted, a day behind, have lots of company, and well, I just need to get a shower and get some sleep so we can get back to it tomorrow.
