We're not in ArKANSAS anymore ..

Since I have only just 'met' some of you, let me give you a little history. If you know me in real life, disregard this next statement. I was born in Maryland but we moved back to my Mother's home state of Arkansas when my parents split up, I was 4 at the time. I consider Arkansas to be my home state after 20 years of living there. I lived in West Memphis, just 7 miles and the Mississippi River from Memphis. My grandparents lived in Earle, a thriving little town of 3000 people. I spent a great deal of my childhood with them, every summer and most weekends. My Grandpa would pick us up from school and call my Mom at work after he got to his house, well, he would tell my Grandma 'to call Shelia and tell her I got the kids today,' he was not a phone person.

This afternoon, one of my very good friends from High School called me to see if I had talked to my Grandma today (Grandpa passed away 2 years ago). I said no I don't usually talk to her during the day. She then tells me there was a tornado in Earle and the grocery store across the street has damage. I hang up the phone, try my Grandma, line busy .. then call my Mother in FL, not that she can do anything but I want her to call her sister who also lives in Earle. Maybe her phones are working? Luckily they were, she left to check on my Grandma. In the meantime, I call one of my other childhood friends whose family still lives in Earle. She said she didn't know anything, her Dad had taken her daughter and niece down to the basement, her Grandmother has a hole in her roof and she can't get her Dad on the phone. Her Grandmother lives 3 houses away from mine.

For the next hour, I am glued to the Internet watching the live weather feed. Anything about Earle. Finally my Aunt calls my mom back to tell her Grandma is fine, she saw the tornado about the same time the weather man said "if you are in Earle, take cover immediately!" She ran to her hallway (the safest place in her house) to ride it out. The church right next door has heavy damage, the grocery store across the street is damaged, the factory across the street from the store is destroyed. My friend did find out her daughter, niece and father were okay but the phone lines are down and his cell phone does not work in the basement.

My point to all of this .. count your blessings. Everyone in my family and my good friends' families are okay except for minor roof damage and debris but not everyone is so lucky. When you think about such a small town, everyone knows everyone. We know exactly where some of these houses used to be, we know the people who were hurt. I am so very grateful, no one died. It is very scary to think what kind of damage a tornado can do and how random it's path is.

On another note entirely .. Baby Sully's cancer is back. Please check out the updates on their site www.sullivanfarrar.com and keep them in your prayers. Yesterday was his 1st birthday. Words can not describe what they must be feeling now.

I will do my best to post something happier later this weekend.