After the Storm

(This is part two of our tornado story. I recommend that you first read my last entry, Tornado!)


There, in the darkness of our small bathroom in the middle of our house, silence was golden! We hoped that silence meant the tornados were gone; but without power we had no way of getting vital information. We crept out of the bathroom and through the hall; it was immediately evident that something major had happened! Inside, our walls were in tact and things were in place; we could hardly see out the windows of our house because they were steamed up and covered with small bits of debris.

Closer to the windows, it was obvious that the green (foliage) was lower then it was supposed to be. In fact, nothing seemed to be as it should be. I couldn’t see what was wrong exactly, that is, until we opened the doors! Shock was the only word for what we saw! Shock, because we were not expecting it.


The front yard was scattered with black and white debris, which eventually visualized in our
brains as our roof shingles and vinyl siding. Trees were down everywhere and tree branches intertwined with resemblances of our porch furniture and lawn ornaments. Our white picket fence and arbor were leaning to the east and decorated with smashes of our heavy wood Adirondack chairs, while little angels, more roof tiles and white siding lay torn around the fence posts.

Out back, my once shade-laden coffee patio and terraced landscaped living areas were now hidden under a blanket of fallen trees. On the southeast corner of the hill,
rising from a newly unearthed pile of dirt, was a large tree trunk sprawling with fingerlike roots in the air. Beneath the uprooted tree, rose the feet of my little boy and girl statues, who had the unfortunate fate of being buried head first in the dirt. The aroma from my herb garden smelled fresh and yummy, as if parts of it were freshly picked.


After a quick check on our neighbors and another round
of warning sirens, we wandered around lost in our own yard. Eventually, Jeff began checking the damage to the structure and integrity of the house, while I assessed the fallen trees and ruins of my outdoor paradise. One look was enough for Susan; she wanted none of it! She said a few choice words and went directly back inside to sit in her rocking chair. Helicopters began immediately flying overhead and emergency vehicles appeared shortly thereafter. Cars driven by family and friends of those living in the ‘tornado zone’ began appearing, followed shortly by insurance adjusters, contractors and shysters.

It seems that what makes this type of thing so
difficult at first is the suddenness of it all. You close a door and open it moments later to a changed worldI felt like we were Peter, Susan and Lucy from The Chronicles of Narnia. They had hidden inside a dark wardrobe and found a secret door in the back. Passing through it led them into Narnia, a new world of odd and exciting things. Although this new view of mine was not awesome or wonderful and I saw no talking animals, it was however, filled with unusual things to discover. My mind hardly had time to switch gear, so the first hour or more was simply spent wondering around in disbelief assessing the damage.


Eventually our minds dealt with the shock, making room for reality. Jeff began making what would turn into days of calls to insurance companies, businesses, contractors and suppliers. About two hours after the tornado had hit, police in cars appeared with bullhorns checking on people. “Is everyone there okay?” they shouted. We gave the thumbs up. We felt blessed- we were alive! “I am putting yellow tape on your mailbox. Please don’t remove it.” He echoed from his bullhorn. Then, off to the next house he went, until everyone on our country cul-de-sac was accounted for.

I woke up the morning after the storm- reorienting my brain... “Your house was hit by a tornado, Karen! There is chaos outside!” I found it hard to believe all over again. This post-tornado week has been filled with power company trucks trying to restore electricity, tree trimmers trimming along the power lines, police cars guarding the neighborhoods from those who don’t belong, strangers wanting jobs and handing out business cards,and contractors on roofs and ladders. The sound of generators running has become familiar all over again. It doesn't seem so long ago that the ice storm took out our power and running water for ten days. We are building on what we learned back then. Oh, and those oil lamp I was filling the day of the tornado have been a great blessing.

As you can imagine, the chaos of it all has caused Susan to be more confused then ever. In fact, the talk everywhere of tornados has caused her to wonder when it is expected. She has no memory that she already survived the real thing (an F4), although she definitely seems more scared of the word ‘tornado’. I believe the trauma made her worse; she isn’t handling it well. Her favorite things to do this week are sleeping and praying.

One week to the day after the tornado hit, volunteers from Jeff’s work showed up to help out! They spent an afternoon with chainsaws and gloves removing most of the downed trees! Again, we were blessed and extremely grateful. There is no doubt that God has walked with us in the midst of the storm! And guess what? At the end of the storm, there was a rainbow! It stretched its spectrum of color in the distant sky so wide that it seemed to encompass our lives in the promise it reflected. Thank you, thank you, Lord of All!