Strange Week

Thanks to everyone for your condolences in the passing of my grandmother. My Mom, Dad and I were able to attend her funeral, and it was quite lovely.

I know a lot of folks that read my blog also read Jamie's, and I'm sure you've all read about the storms that hit Tennessee last Friday. Talk about scary. As I've mentioned before on this blog, I've lived in the South all my life, but you never get used to tornadoes. I'm quite terrified of them, to be honest. And with this one, I think I was the most scared that I have ever been.

I am just so glad I turned on the TV that day. I kept an eye on it in the background while I worked and Jack napped. Well, around 1:45 or so I determined it was time to close up shop and pay some serious attention to the weather. I readied the portion of our laundry closet, got out the kennel for Annie, and waited for the tornado warning for our county.

It came around 2pm. Around that time, Jack woke from his nap and it started to rain. With the warning, I put Annie in her kennel, put that on top of the washer and dryer, and Jack and I huddled in the remaining corner of the laundry closet. About 15 minutes later the power went out - thank goodness for our battery operated radio, and thank goodness I was in the closet with a groggy toddler who was content to sit in my lap in the closet as long as he had his paci and blue pants.

Then came the hail, and I thought a tornado was hitting our house. After I teared up, thinking "this is it, a tornado has finally come to get us", I realized that it was hail, which we had just gotten a few days before. I continued to listen to the radio, which had gone to full-blown storm coverage (this never happens on the radio in Nashville, so ya know it's bad). The news was terrifying about what was going on - how our small town managed to avoid any damage amazes me. I just thank God that we were safe.

Addam was stuck in traffic while there was a tornado warning in Nashville - luckily he's OK. But this is why he was stuck in traffic, and why I am just plain terrified of tornadoes (photo from The Tennessean):

This is/was a large Baptist church located just off the interstate. Somehow the kids in the daycare inside were all OK - terribly frightened, I'm sure, but OK. We were in Goodlettsville during this last weekend, and you can see the trail of damage that the tornado left.

The worst damage was sustained in Gallatin, TN, where over 100 homes were completely destroyed. This terrifies me the most (again, photo from The Tennessean):

Even though Jack and I were in the safest part of our home, it would be difficult to survive if a tornado destroyed your home around you. It's so scary. There were 12 deaths from the tornadoes last week - as awful as that is, I think it would have been even worse if it had occurred after 7pm, when folks are all at home.

I feel so lucky that we're all safe and sound, and everyone I know in that area is safe. However, there are many families at this time without a home - keep these folks in Tennessee in your thoughts and prayers.