Just one week ago this Sunday I was awakened by the phone ringing off the hook! It was a good friend of my parents. She asked if I had heard the news about our small Georgia town being hit by a tornado. I of course had not heard and she said that my parents home was the hardest hit on their street. This is the home I grew up in and of course my heart was beating so fast that I thought it was going to jump out of my body. I told her that I was putting on my clothes to get in the car and would meet her at their home as fast as I could!
Our parents were not at home as my twin sister was just out of lung surgery by only two weeks and they were taking care of her until we could bring her home. I had been with them and gone to visit my grandchildren for Christmas for a few days and was home getting ready to go back to help them with my sister. Our parents are in their eighties and we consider ourselves blessed to have them at this time in our lives.
It took me about two minutes to get dressed and in my car headed to my parents house and I was fit to be tied as the old saying goes. My husband and I drove up in the yard in about twenty minutes and by this time I was about to just have a fit! Trees were down everywhere and just torn apart there was not a place to step in that yard that did not have a big pine tree just torn to shreads. It looked like a war had broken out in that yard. There were two trees on the house and one had broken down the roof. Our Daddy is an avid Camellia grower with about 125 different varities growing in his yard among one hundred fifty foot tall pine trees over 60 years old with five pecan trees at least that old or older. I just stood there with great big tears rolling down my face. I was truly thankful to God that they were not at home but just knowing that I would be the one to tell them that their home was in ruins as well as their yard. I felt almost betrayed. The hot tears burned my face. I picked up my cell phone and dialed my sister's number. I woke them up with this news that their home was still standing but in much need of repairs. I helped them pick up the pieces and start repairs with cleanup of the mess and watched my Daddy with tears running down his face looking at the destruction that can happen in a flash of the eye and everything that you worked for your entire life be gone in seconds. Yes we were blessed that no lives were lost but what makes it so hard is at their age there is not to much you can do yourself but you are at the mercy of others and some will take advantage of the situation. I hope and pray that all the people that are involved in this will be honest and helpful because there is nothing that I can do but wait and watch. If the trees do not fall on your home all your insurance will pay is $500.00. Can you believe that! Makes you want to cut down all the trees before they reach 150 feet or more! I hope this never happens to anyone else. It is almost to much to even think about but I know that it does happen and sometime everything is gone in a flash.
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