God Bless Oklahoma!

I was so amazed when I heard about the tornado in Oklahoma yesterday. It's crazy the amount of power wind can have. How much destruction can it make? Well, we saw a good chunk of it yesterday. What hurts is how many people are displaced because of it. AND, the amount of deaths from it. This is something the survivors will never forget.

Growing up in Pennsylvania in the outskirts of the towns of Freedom, Zelienople, Rochester and New Brighton, I remember how many times Mom would wake us up and take us downstairs because of bad weather. One time, a tornado actually hit about 200 yards away from our house. It picked up a roof off of a garage and moved it. I remember going with Dad to see it. At the age I was, I didn't understand.

Then we had one again several years later. This time, it followed a path between hills. This one really caused a lot of destruction. It knocked over trees all over the place, where it touched down again and again. It demolished a shopping plaza that was on top of a hill. That was one of my favorite stores. I got a really pretty winter coat there, one year. It was a copper colored corduroy with creamy fake fur at the collar and wrists. We're talking early 70's. I was old enough to understand, but really didn't comprehend it.

About 10 years ago, in South Carolina where we live, we had a tornado touch down in a heavily populated area. This was just a few miles from where we lived. However, there wasn't a whole lot of destruction. Lucky for us.

In Zelienople, a lot of trees are still leaning the direction of the path the wind took. Just like us, the people in Oklahoma will have reminders of the destruction for many years down the road. We can offer all the assistance we can. But our best bet is to start with a prayer for the victims and survivors of this terrible force of destruction.

At my much advanced age, I can see the pictures on TV and memories come back. I can comprehend and feel what it must be like to go through it even though I've never gone through it at my age. I hope I don't...either.

May God Bless Oklahoma!

Take care.