Loss…

As some of you may know, I live in Alabama…the beautiful mountainous gorgeous State of Alabama….last Wednesday was the most horrific day this state has ever seen as multiple F4 and F5 tornados ripped across our state…changing the landscape forever….changing our lives forever…

My family was very blessed….the terrible storms were all around us, but we had no damage, no tornados…we didn’t even lose power…so very blessed….many many others were not so fortunate..

Beginning last week, the weather forecasters had been warning us that this weather was coming…to be prepared…to have a plan in place….one forecaster said there was a 110% chance of severe tornados across the State of Alabama on Wednesday…but you know, we have heard about storms and tornados before and that kind of thing always happens somewhere else…to someone else….

Not this time….

I was so anxious over the weather….storms and warnings have always made me nervous, but this time was different….the air felt dangerous…it was hot…humid….I said prayers all day long while I was at work….I was just so antsy….the wonderful girls that I work with and I discussed it at lunch…in fact Tina had had some storms pass through her area Wednesday morning and she had no power….she came to the office with wet hair and her hair dryer in her hand….

We closed our offices early Wednesday and as we were leaving we were all telling each other to “Be Safe”, take cover….be careful….I went home and cooked supper and was just tense….Cameron was at a friend’s house and they didn’t have a basement so I called him and told him to come home….we don’t have a basement either….I was watching the weather on the news and saw the massive monster ripping across Tuscaloosa and then Birmingham which is about 40 miles from me….

That was it….I told my family, “We are OUT of here”…we took our cats and went to some friends who live close to us, only a few houses away, and we got in their basement….and we watched….it was scary…I was hearing the towns Argo, Springville, Hokes Bluff, Ohatchee, Glencoe, Gadsden….take cover!  So terrifying….and we prayed….

After the threat had passed we went back home and I started calling and checking on all of my loved ones….my sweet precious friend Sharon, whom you have heard me talk about on my blog many times….my partner in shopping crime, was the first one I called….she lives in Ohatchee and I heard a tornado  had “touched down” there….she did not answer her cell, but she did answer her land line and I was SO happy to hear her voice….they were fine…no damage….power out….thank God…I had talked to Janice when I was in Peggi’s basement, so I knew she was fine…Cameron had talked to Malory, she was fine…Debbie was good….but I couldn’t get in touch with Tina….I assumed the power was out, cell phones down, because Tina only lives about a mile from Sharon…..so she must be okay…

When I got to work the next morning, Debbie said she still had not been able to reach Tina.  We called Tina’s boss and asked her if she had heard from Tina…she said no….Gina sent her husband to Tina’s house to check on them…..the picture above is where Tina’s house used to be….She and her husband were both killed in the tornado….they were huddled in their bathroom with their two dogs when the house took a direct hit….there was nothing left but a concrete slab….we are devastated….

This is Tina and Mike and their son Blake, who was deployed to Afghanistan….he had been gone 9 months and was due home Mother’s Day weekend….I can’t tell you how excited Tina and Mike were!  They were all going to North Carolina to be there when he got off the plane…..he came home a week early because he had lost both of his parents…I cannot even begin to imagine what he is going through….They also had a daughter Jessica, a son-in-law, James and a precious 5 year old granddaughter, Ariel, who was the apple of their eye….Tina was only 49 years old…

This was a beautiful Godly couple…Mike’s last post to his family as they huddled in their bathtub was…”Angels will protect us or, Angel’s will usher us home”…Heaven is a much brighter place….Tina was beautiful and funny and fun and always laughing….we will miss her so very much….

I will see her again….of that I am sure….but please remember those that are left behind to mourn their loss and to deal with the terrible void that has been left in their lives…..

One of their dogs, “Cuz” who belonged to Blake, survived the storm and has been reunited with the family…

All of the photos above were taken in the county I live in….about 12 miles from my house…my neighborhood….there but by the Grace of God, go I…

Tell those you love….that you love them….often….