Saturday News

Tornadoes ripped through our county yesterday morning. Some of our family members lost trees and had property damage, but survived unhurt. My co-worker huddled in the bathtub with her 10-month-old son as it roared over her house to take out trees across the road. 7 or 8 were killed in Arkansas. This state has had her share of violent weather this year. Snow and ice, floods and now tornadoes have managed to affect countless folks living in the state. It makes a person wonder if the end is really getting near.

I myself was at home during the storms yesterday. I was watching an old movie on TCM, and realized it was getting terribly dark, but the wind didn't seem to be high. My Dish Network went out and the power was off for about 4 or 5 minutes at most. I realize now, it was during that time, the tornado/tornadoes were moving around me. I suppose I would have been blown to smithereens without ever knowing what hit me, had my house been in its direct path.

Once when J was just a toddler and LeLe was in elementary school, a storm roared over our home in Rison. SR was working and I grabbed a sleeping son, and LeLe, and we huddled in the hall while it blew all around us. LeLe was scared, but J never woke. We got through it with no damage to our property, but the tornado cut a swath of timber a short distance from us. That summer, SR worked to salvage some of it and therefore made a little extra money for the family. Something good can come out of something bad.

The news has been full of video of the actual tornadoes and the devastation left in their wake. The force of that kind of storm is indescribable. Almost the entire state has been declared a disaster area. People have lost everything, but are thankful for their lives. My heart goes out to them. There but for the Grace of God go I.