This week has been a roller coaster of emotions. My mom and step dad were in town this past weekend and I kept giving them such a hard time for being weather freaks. They have the weather app on their phone that they each paid $3.99 for that alerts them within 15 minutes when it is going to rain. They have a weather radio at their house and cannot go to bed at night without watching the weather. To me that qualified them as weather freaks. On Sunday they woke up and were determined to leave fairly early so they could get back in town and pick up the dogs from the kennel before the bad weather was going to begin. My mom text me when they got to their house and said they got there just in time for them plus all their animals to cram into the hallway bathroom because a tornado was 1/2 mile from their house on I-35 and Bryant. I was crazily texting and checking up on her and all of my other Oklahomies to ensure everyone's safety.
Little did I know that Sunday night was the least of the weather concern in Oklahoma. I had the news on in the afternoon and kept checking in with my mom again on Monday afternoon as she was telling me that the skies were black and there were tornados touching down in Moore. I went to watch the coverage as I received a text from my brother in law that Josh's mom's house was most likely gone. Part of me was relieved as I am here in Kansas not having to worry about the safety of my husband and children. The other half of me was terrified not being close to the rest of our family. I was anxiety ridden all afternoon trying to get in touch with family and friends to check on their safety as I continued to see the devastation that occurred in Oklahoma. I was just imagining what Josh's mom was going to go home to as she was trying to make her way into Moore after she left work that day. I cannot really even fathom what feelings and emotions occur when you are driving to a place that holds all your possessions and memories to pull up and see nothing. Fortunately his mom along with all our friends and other family members in Moore can be considered the lucky ones. Their homes are intact and they have their lives and their families. But that is not what a lot of residents in Moore Oklahoma, along with a few other cities can say.
Often it takes time for me to process the reality of things. I can do a great job of ridding emotion when it comes to dealing with hard situations. I try to stay light hearted so I can seem strong but having such devistation happen to a place I call home has been hard. It has been hard to feel disconnected by living 5 hours away and not being able to go out and physically contribute to help build back the community. Yet it has been incredibly uplifting to see all of the togetherness and donations and bonding that has happened throughout the entire state to help start the rebuilding process so those affected can eventually get back to normalcy. When I saw on the news the other afternoon that Kevin Durant donated $1 million dollars to the Red Cross I broke down in tears. Not just because I think Kevin Durant is freaking amazing, but to see that everyone is doing what they can in whatever way is so heartwarming. So many of my friends on FB commented that when they went to the grocery store the following day all they saw were people with ginormous baskets full of items to donate. Lots and lots of postings about where and how to donate money to give to the Red Cross. Photographers giving away free portrait sessions to those who lost all of their personal items & pictures, local t-shirt companies donating all the proceeds when purchasing an Oklahoma t-shirt and those who took off work to physically go out and remove rubble and help in whatever way they can. It is really amazing and makes me so proud to say I am an Oklahoman. I know that I am not living there now but it will always have my heart. It will always be the place that I call home.
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