This and That

I did a little volunteering at a Red Cross Shelter after the tornadoes Of April 27 and the people I served dinner to touched my heart. I took a drive today to look around at areas hit when the EF5 traveled NW. I saw what it did west of me (We had a small tornado skip over us and another one to the south of our neighborhood, nothing like what these people experienced, we were unscathed).

One gentleman (and he really was a gentle man) told me about making coffee using a clean sock, using scraps of thrown wood, etc. (He was so sweet. He said he didn't eat anything that once had eyes...but then he saw the brownies...he asked if they had eggs and looked so wistful when we said yes. He "pondered" as we say here in the South and changed his mind. I still feel guilty for showing him the brownies...I feel like I tempted him but I think he decided after all he'd been through, chocolate was the anecdote)

The second night I volunteered, a power crew from GA came roaring in about 6:40 (we stopped serving at 7 p.m.) and they said they broke land speed records to get there. This was about their 12th day of working and they were so sunburned. We found them band aids for their blisters and sunscreen and Tylenol for the burns. One guy told me he came with $20 in his pocket and everyone in this area was so grateful for their work, he still had most of his $20. One of the crew was so appreciative, he came in after eating and asked if he could help do anything. We declined and he offered to take out the trash. We declined that offer also...they had been working sun up to sun down and no days off...and he was going to take out the trash...unbelievable.

One family had their home damaged and the wife's parents home was damaged. The wife found two rentals and the family moved all of their belongings and her parents belongings...in 3 days. She came in and asked if she could help in the kitchen. We said no, she walked over and started washing dishes. Unbelievable.

One day last week, I drove by a high school that was just missed and there was a hand painted sign in front of the school..."Prom dresses for tornado victims, FREE."
In all the chaos, I forgot it was prom season...all those kids looking forward to it all year and people stepped up to make it happen.

Last week when I was driving by an area that was wiped out, I saw a utility worker up in the cherry picker, restoring the damage. I tried taking a picture while driving with my cell phone (relax Mom, I was going slow) but I just couldn't capture the story. I tried again today but I still can't capture the feeling. These workers are so amazing.

Everywhere I go whether it is to wash the car or go to the bank there are emergency response vehicles, insurance disaster vehicles, Red Cross disaster vehicles. It's weird, it's so nice to see them but it breaks your heart.

Okay, I am yelling at my rowdy kids and totally lost my train of thought...I guess I'll just attach pictures I took today.(Oh, and before I forget...M and H helped me at the last night of dinner and all M wanted to do was mop, he was determined to mop and couldn't understand why you couldn't mop until everyone left...)