No title describes this well enough.

*Written April 29th, 2011, in a hotel room... by me, of course*

A week or so ago a bunch of dangerous storms started rolling through our area. I started working on a blog post about my absolute terror regarding tornados, joking about some of the low-priority things I worry about should a tornado sweep through my tiny town. Mind you, I truly am terrified of tornados, but find it much easier to wonder about the little details that don’t matter.  I chose not to post that one, because it just didn’t feel right. Even though I wrote that I knew none of that piddly stuff would even come close to mattering in the event of an actual tornado destroying my house, it did still seem selfish, shallow, and insulting. Since that wasn’t my intention, I chose not to post it and deleted it. Note: This was also before the tornados that devastated the South, after which it became a significantly less amusing topic for me to discuss lightly. Then disaster really did strike us, from a direction I totally didn’t expect.


You see, tornados happen around here all the time. They are by no means an uncommon occurrence. So that fact coupled with my fear of them makes it reasonable for me to think and worry about that often. If you’ve been paying any attention to the tremendous amount of damage and devastation caused by the record-breaking outbreak of tornados in Alabama and throughout the South the past week, you know that they are not something to take lightly. I can only sit in silence when staring at the pictures and videos of the magnitude of the destruction down there. I feel so badly for what has happened to them. But still, that’s not why I’m writing this post.


It wasn’t a tornado that took my house, it was a massive flood. And I was right—I don’t care that there were dirty dishes in the sink, that the floor hadn’t been vacuumed in a few days, that there were dirty clothes all over the place because I was slowly getting through the laundry. I don’t care that anyone opening my fridge would most likely only find sodas, expired milk, and 3 kinds of hot sauce. And some Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce, because that stuff’s amazing! It tastes great with The Hubby’s grilled chicken. I don’t care that our cabinets and freezers are filled with junk food, or that there’s probably piles of cat puke hidden in strange places throughout the house, from the times when we weren’t there to hear them horking it up and hadn’t come across it yet. I didn’t and still don’t care about any of that. I’ll tell the whole story in another post, but truly all I care about is that The Hubby is laying next to me in our hotel room (paid for by a local organization), the animals are safely tucked away with one of his relatives, and we have some clothes to wear, phones (and chargers!) and the laptop computer to stay connected to those we love.* We have so much love for everyone that’s been supporting us and reaching out, willing to do anything they can to help us get through this difficult time.

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Written May 5, 2011
* - Totally didn't work out that way... We've been having trouble with our laptop. It no longer feels it needs to connect to the internet anywhere. So I've been sitting on this post until I had access to a computer that WILL access the internet, and had to save the document to my phone then email it to myself in order for that to happen, and had to have the time and energy to do all that plus whatever editing would be necessary. See how dedicated I am?

And just to make sure everyone's up-to-date regarding our status, we are safe, we're now living with The Hubby's parents, the animals are back with us, we're both still working, our insurance is NOT going to cover the damage, and we are NOT going to be able to live in our house again. Looking for new digs. Just like all the other flood victims. Again, I will tell more of the story later. Please wish us luck, and if you're aware of any decent places for rent in our area please email me/call/whatever!