Tornado Thoughts

Thank you to everyone for your kind words about my grandfather.  He is doing much better and was able to walk today at the hospital.  We're hopeful for a discharge in the next day or so.

Focusing on my own personal struggles for the past few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about how much tragedy happens every day in our own back yard and how quickly we unconsciously expect people to deal with it and move on.  I don't know if this has always been the case or if it has a lot to do with the increased flow and pace of information that we now have.  This thought really hit home for me today when I was walking to work.  I work downtown in the state capital four to five days a week at our local children's museum.  It's an awesome place to work, but it is also right on the edge of one of the more rough areas of town.  On days I work in the afternoon I have to park a few blocks over on the street where I don't have to pay two hours at a time and move my car three times during my shift.  I had to park further out today than normal and as I was walking in I realized that I was walking the path of the tornado that hit here in April.  Along this street is a lovely and very old cemetery that was devastated by the storm.

Several months later and it still looks like the storm was only a few days ago.  I didn't want to take pictures of people's homes, but there are still downed trees and broken branches throughout the area.  

While the loss here was not nearly as bad as in other parts of the country, the damage was significant for many families and sadly because the storm came through downtown many of those still feeling the after effects do not have much at their disposal to restore their homes.

I'm not trying to get preachy or call for help, but I do think that it is important to remember what has happened is happening in the world around us.  I'm grateful that the only real damage that I saw today was to a cemetery.  I feel even more pride in my job because I do think that our location, while it may be upsetting to some and frustrating at times, is important because it allows us to provide a safe environment for families and to reach out to those we can.

And here's a random cat statue I parked next to, just to make you smile.