Memories

I’ve been thinking about the tornadoes that have hit so close to my home in recent days and watching so many news reports about the hardest hit area in Moore, Oklahoma…my mind is simply boggled. I am numb, and I cannot sleep – all I still hear in my head is tornado sirens and horrible, horrible wind.

A dear blogger friend of mine, Ralph, posted about the devastation and since I’ve just learned how to share YouTube videos on WordPress, I thought I would share a video I made about a year and a half ago which shows the stretch of highway in Moore as it was before the tornado of May 20, 2013.

If you have 10 or 11 minutes to spare, the video shows, about halfway through, the Warren Theatre – which was damaged but not destroyed and which has now become a staging area for rescue efforts and media coverage of the disaster. Many people were caught on the highway during the tornado, with nowhere to go to escape…

The video also shows Coach Carmon, who is the ‘other friend’ Ralph speaks of in his blog post – Carmon’s home was in the direct path of another tornado on the 20th, and that tornado thankfully dissipated rather than destroying her home.

And also in the video – the intersection where Toby Keith’s home is, is where the auto accident happened that trashed my hip – the reason I still have to make trips to Dallas to see a hip specialist.

As much coverage as there has been of the devastation in Moore, thoughts and prayers must also go to those who experienced the many smaller tornadoes in the area that same day. There was no way of knowing which tornado was going to do any amount of damage until it was all over – it was all frightening and traumatic and in the end, heartbreaking even if your own home was not destroyed.