It is Good Friday, April 10, 2009. Don and I were sitting in our personal comfortable chairs, he relaxed in his ergonomically-engineered Ikea and me in my mom's rocker/recliner, getting ready for a day of quiet reading! Yes... Don was reading and I was thrilled that we would share this day in this way! I knew Jeff Ray of Channel 2 news had predicted severe storms for the middle Tennessee area; so, we had the TV on mute, keeping an eye on the weather channel. I thought, "I should get my laptop and follow this weather on weather.com." My laptop showed a red ominous blob headed our way. Well, the rest, you know is history. The world as we know it, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was literally ripped apart. From the southwestern corner to the northeastern corner of my hometown, a tornado twisted and bounced like a spinning top, leaving in its wake destroyed lives & landscape, families & homes.
Three months later...
July 10, 2009 I decided to begin a new workout routine. At 4:00 AM, I woke up with the enthusiasm of a kid starting their first day at school. My plan was to be out right before the sun rose, painting the soft colors of a new day on the eastern sky. Much to my dismay, it was very dark outside. So, I had my cup of "wake-up" to pass the time. Around 5 AM, I looked out my kitchen window, a lovely soft navy dawn had filled my view. With my new running shoes, I grabbed by I-Touch and hit the pavement with a WALK/run/repeat routine. The first street was okay, a brisk walk, heavy breathing and arms pumping to the beat of a song. As I reached the first cross street, I began my very brief run. Penny Lane and walk, I can do this. As my feet began a walk, Stephen Curtis Champman sang in my ear, "Speechless". As my breath finally came back to normal, I took in my surroundings: to the right, "my" sunrise, the eastern sky painted with pastel pinks, corals, yellows with the softest colors I had desired to see; to my left, the aftermath of the devastation left by the Good Friday tornado that had ripped my neighbors homes and lives apart. The afternoon of April 10 and after I had not ventured into the areas of destruction, my focus had been at home, school, TCAP, and end of the year activities. I was bound and determined not to be one of the curious, riding around to see what the tornado had done to our beloved town. I had been a witness to the constant stream of onlookers parading through the area. As I viewed the empty lots where homes and lives had stood, the disbelief and awe of everything came rushing in with every breath I took. As Steven continued to serenade my workout, I was "astounded and amazed" by God's contrasting power. Tears trickled down my sweating cheeks... grateful to just be in the moment!
Today, July 10, 2009...
Some of the damaged homes in my neighboring subdivision have been repaired. Not much has changed for one house; still looks like a bomb had been dropped on it! I wonder about the people, the families, the lives that were tossed about on that day three months ago. One family, our backyard neighbors Dot and John, have come home. Today, I delivered some handpicked blueberries, my belated welcome back home gift. Dot proudly showed me the repairs that had been made to their home. I shared with her my new lease on life... walk/run/repeat; she had started a similar routine. We decided to meet in her yard at 5 AM the next morning to walk together.
As I reflect about the terrible event which occurred three months ago, I realize how much a community pulls together in a time of need. How perfect strangers who speak can go about their normal daily routines, oblivious of the lives of others. Let life throw a wrench to purposefully slow everyone down and force people to get back to our basic needs of survival. I believe those basic needs includes unconditional humanity. We need to know that people still care about people in the simplest of terms. Giving a hug, sharing food, and providing shelter from the storms of life, whatever those storms might be. God is keeping us on this earth, blessing us in our country, pulling us together as a community for some reason. I can't help but believe the lesson is "get back to the simpler way of life". Someday in our future we may be faced with far more worse days... will I remember the lessons learned? I pray my answer will be yes.
