"April Showers bring May Flowers"
April also brings Nature's Fury. April 27th was a wild day in the South to say the least. I am sure every single one of you have watched the news and seen how Alabama the Beautiful became one big disaster. Our house in Helena was left untouched. My Mom's house on the Lake was missed by 2 miles. Nickel and Russ's house in Trussville just had lots of debris. Chip and Cara's house in Rome, GA was just barely missed. We are thankful that our families and most of our friends were left untouched. I watched in awe on Wednesday afternoon as a Tornado ripped Tuscaloosa into a gazillion pieces. All I could think of is that was my home. I lived on 12th street all four years at Bama. The tornado ripped up 15th street. Thankfully none of my friends that were still in Tuscaloosa were hurt. Then 2 hours later I watched in shear terror as it ripped a path toward Hueytown/Concord/Pleasant Grove. My school, all my co-workers, my children and their families?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Then not an hour later Dadeville, AL was projected to get a direct hit. A DIRECT HIT? My little bitty town was about to be ripped apart?! The place Matt and I met, Camp ASCCA's Dadeville Campus is destroyed. Part of a Lake neighborhood was destroyed. A neighborhood in town where a number of very close friends live is unrecognizable. Three places that I call home were ripped apart and destroyed. Thursday I kept myself busy doing household chores, but was constantly watching the TV and looking at Facebook pictures. By Friday I was glued to the TV watching the President tour Tuscaloosa. I completely lost it over the town I called home. Then I saw pictures from Dadeville and was devastated again. Since I didn't have school on Monday I headed to Dadeville to hang-out with my Mom. It did me good. I went and saw some of the people in Dadeville who were hit the hardest. I was completely stressed out about going back to school. How do you tell 11-14 year olds that everything will be ok? How do you explain that these things happen and we will get through it. I am only 23 and I definitely did not have all the answers. On Tuesday I returned to Hueytown Middle School to find all of my kiddos safe and sound. Also, all my co-workers were ok. Tuesday was mentally exhausting but we made it. The week went by very quickly and Friday we all enjoyed HMS Field Day. All the kids were great and the adults needed the distraction too! I am still awe struck when I see what a tornado can do to a house, tree, and a town. The State of Alabama will be able to rebound from this disaster.
Other than the tornado I am getting ready to close out the year at school. I cannot believe that I have almost finished my first year of teaching. It was definitely an interesting in other words. I am so blessed to be a part of a school that is so wonderful to my students and me. I am going to be sending 6 students to the high school, but I will be gaining students from the elementary school, so I will still have a class full! I am excited about a summer filled with The Lake, My Husband coming home, a lot of time with my nieces, a beach trip in South Carolina, and at the end of the summer a Nephew! I am still in graduate school, so I will have 2 classes this summer as well! I hope your family is safe and sound after these storms.
