'naders

It's been over a week now since the tornado and it still seems pretty surreal.  I try to picture in my mind what it looked like before; driving up 4th street or on a walk through the neighborhood- just to make it make sense. I try to put myself in other people's shoes. What must it be like to have your home turned into a pile of rubble in the matter of seconds? I was just a shift of wind away from experiencing this myself. I know how lucky we were, how many other people lost everything and deserve so much more help. The images and videos on TV don't even do justice to seeing the destruction in person, but I still don't feel like it's clicked in my brain that this is my home. I know I was in shock at first, that was clear. But it's sure taking a while to wear off.

I've decided that the best way for me to deal with it and make sense of all that has and will happen, is to write. For those that know me well, you know that I'm a crier. When I get frustrated or overwhelmed or hurt, crying is my body's go-to method of initial coping. So the fact that I didn't cry until Wednesday, and it only happen once more, is a little scary to me, and I know I need to do something to let it all out, so I will do it here.

This will be my tornado story.

In respect to J, and our privacy and safety as we recover and rebuild, and for the future, I'm not going to give too much specific details or post pictures of the house. Most of you who end up reading all this will probably already have my address anyway, and you can find it on the Google map of the damage here: Moore Oklahoma Tornado Damage

You don't know the strength and resilience you have unless you are tested!