Category: Life

In case you haven’t heard, Joplin, Missouri, which is about 70 miles west of Springfield Missouri, where I live, was decimated by an EF4 (experts upgraded) EF5 tornado Sunday evening.

They’re saying that about 30% of the city was wiped out and the latest body count is 118 123. (That number just jumped one more since I began writing this post. SO SAD!!) Numbers keep jumping. 😦

You can see pictures of the disaster in this slideshow.

They’re also saying that it’s “the deadliest single U.S. tornado since modern record-keeping began more than 60 years ago.” We’re no strangers tornadoes down here in The Ozarks. We’ve had several rip through this area over the past decades, but what I think is especially shocking about what happened to Joplin is that so many people died. And many more are missing. There is a Facebook page calling for help in locating a young man, 18 to be exact. He was driving home from his high school graduation with his dad when he was sucked out of the sunroof of their SUV. He suffered a head trauma and was taken to the hospital, but now his family can’t locate him.

There is another Facebook page plea looking for the 15-month old boy shown in the profile picture.

I’m crying as I type this. I CAN NOT imagine the horror of not being able to locate a loved one, let alone a BABY, after a tragedy like this. That would truly be a living nightmare.

People in Joplin are having to paint the house number and the name of the street on the wreckage because everything is so badly destroyed that people can’t tell what streets are what.

And that reminds me of a story I heard on the radio as I was coming home from dropping Jazz off at school this morning. It made me cry.

This man, hearing that a tornado was heading straight for his ex-wife’s house, who had custody of their little girl, broke speed limits to drive to her house to make sure they were okay. He said he drove as close as he was able before being forced to abandon his car and run the rest of the way because there was so much debris and downed power lines that he couldn’t drive on the streets. When he arrived, he said he had trouble locating the house because the entire area was simply gone – he had had to ask people in the area if he was even on the right street because all of the landmarks had disappeared. (Even the trees were debarked and none of them had limbs or leaves, they were simply broken trunks).

When he finally located her house, he said that the only thing left standing was the bathroom and there were pillows in the tub, but he didn’t find his ex-wife or daughter. The roof had collapsed onto the bathroom, which is what apparently saved them from being blown away. The mattress off the bed in the master bedroom, which was next to the bathroom was finally located two blocks away and stuck in a tree.

One of their cars were missing, so the man didn’t know if they had tried to drive off and if so, did they make it, or if the car simply got blown away. (If you look at the pictures, you’ll notice that several cars are totaled – they were tossed around like matchbox cars).

Since the cell phone towers were down, there wasn’t cell phone service, so he spent nearly four hours rummaging through the debris of his ex-wife’s house fearful of what he would find. He finally went over to his ex-wife’s parents’ house and found his ex-wife and his daughter there, safe and sound. He said it was the most terrifying four hours of his entire life.

Again. I can only imagine!! And I hope to NEVER experience that terror first hand.

Rescue workers are still rummaging through the debris looking for more bodies. The count seems to increase a little more with each passing day.

It’s truly heartbreaking.

You can watch five videos from the tornado here. Hearing people screaming and crying will give you goosebumps.

I’ve spent the last two days watching, reading and praying for the people in Joplin. I’m also pleased to see that Springfield has been moving full-speed ahead with programs to help the people in need.

Here’s how you can help, if you feel so inclined:

First and foremost, if you want to physically drive to Joplin and help, PLEASE call this number before doing so: 1-800-427-4628, they will tell you where you’re needed and you’ll know where to go before you arrive as opposed to just showing up and not knowing where to go or what to do.

If you want to donate something, here is a list of the top-ten things most needed:

1. Water (individual & gallons)
2. Blankets & Pillows
3. Clothing (All Ages & Sizes)
4. Non-Perishable Ready To Eat Canned Foods
5. Snack Foods
6. Shampoo & Soap
7. Toilet Paper
8. Diapers
9. Baby Formula
10. First Aid Kits & Basic Medical Supplies

You can also find additional suggestions here

Many of our local schools are hosting programs that you can contribute to.

If you live outside of Joplin, but are in the area, here is a list of outlining towns and what they’re doing to help out.

I know when terrible things happen like this, people are hurt, confused and angry and tend to blame God. Please, PLEASE understand that our God is a kind and loving God and would NEVER hurt us like this. God is NOT the instigator behind evil things like this happening but rather it’s Satan’s fault. Let’s put the blame where it belongs, please. Don’t blame God for tragedies.

Also, I got to thinking about what WE would do if anything this horrific was coming straight toward us and Kevin and I have decided that we would likely leave our house and huddle in our huge storm drain. It’s not the ideal solution, but staying in our house would likely kill us. He suggested the crawl space at first, it’s a huge crawl space, about four feet high, and though it might be a good place to hide, what if the house completely collapses on top of us?? We would be buried alive. *shudder* Since we don’t have a basement and our two bathrooms have windows, our only other options would be a closet or the hallway and neither really gives me any sense of safety.

We wouldn’t run to the storm drain unless we knew FOR CERTAIN that it was heading right toward us and there was no escape. The problem with the storm drain, obviously, is the water. If we get heavy rains, we will likely be hanging on for dear life to avoid being swept by the current, but I still think it’s a safer option than staying in the house.

Especially after seeing what happens to houses that are unfortunate enough to be in the path of an EF4 tornado.

I made a silly little video to give you an idea what I’m talking about. I felt self-conscious out there talking into my camera, wondering if my neighbors think I’m (even more) crazy. I also made a wise crack about my hot pink t-shirt. I’m not a hot pink sort of gal. Not that there’s anything wrong with hot pink – it’s just not a color I wear very often and only when I have a tan. You know, I don’t even know why I mentioned the color of my shirt. Stupid, stupid …

Anyway. This whole disaster has really affected me and it’s been hard to think of little else.

Let’s pray:

Dear God,

Please help the people in Joplin. Please guide them and help them find the courage they need to survive this tragedy. I pray that the families who are missing loved ones find them, safe and sound, and I pray they are able to rebuild their lives. Please protect them and bless them, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Ugh. I have a post-graduation hangover.

It’s a done deal. Dude is officially a graduate. He’s now free to become part of society … in August. lol That’s when he will buckle down and get a job. Why August? Because we are going on a family vacation in late July and there’s really no point in the boy looking for a job when he’s going to have to ask for a week off right off the bat.

I’m sure that wouldn’t exactly endear him to his employer.

And, the kid deserves a break. He’s worked his tail end off for 13 years – he deserves to have some time off and just goof off.

But I reserve my right to nag him beginning in August. 😀

Yesterday was busy. Dude went to his graduation rehearsal at his school at 9:00 yesterday morning. He didn’t want to go, but I made him because I’ve never done this before and I had no clue what was going to happen or where he was supposed to go. I’m glad he went because he was able to connect with his friends and make plans to meet them at a certain time so they could all sit together.

I walked/jogged my three miles before cleaning up and going to the office for a few hours. When I dropped Jazz off back at home after school, I checked on Dude – who was in bed with a stomachache. He said the pizza rolls he had cooked for himself had been bad, and they might have been, but I really think it was a case of the nerves. He’s always done this, even when he was a little boy. Whenever something came up that he would have to participate in, or was nervous about, he would suddenly develop a stomachache or some other ailment. He keeps insisting he wasn’t nervous about the graduation ceremony, but I knew better. Still. I have learned to pick my battles and I left him alone, curled up into a fetal position on his bed.

In the meantime, I got my crap together and called Qdoba to order a Taco Bar from them for Saturday’s graduation reception. I’m expecting about 20 people to show up – give or take a friend or two. I’ll be picking the food up at 11:30 – the reception starts at noon.

I hope I’m not cutting it close. (Incidentally, I have to pick the cake up between 9:00 and noon on Saturday, too. I’m anticipating stressful moments).

But back to yesterday …

Five o’clock rolls around and it’s time for the boys to change into their dress clothes. Luckily, Dude fit into Kevin’s old dress slacks and I didn’t have to buy him any. It’s funny, but Kevin is always commenting on how skinny Dude is and yet, his old slacks fit Dude perfectly, indicating that Kevin was pretty skinny at one point. Both boys are stick figures – they have inherited that extreme skinniness from their father.

Definitely not from me. HA!

We were going to go out to eat at a nice restaurant, but no one was hungry, so we ended up going to Subway. Dude could only stomach chips and Sprite, whereas Jazz and myself had a three-inch sub sandwich. I’ll admit it, I hardly ate anything yesterday. I was too nervous to eat, too.

We headed up to MSU. We wanted to go early in order to ensure a parking space. I was really worried that it would be so chaotic that we would be challenged to find anything within a reasonable walking distance. (Thank God we had nice weather yesterday). However, I was surprised to find that parking was not an issue – at all. As we were driving around to find a decent parking space (Kevin wouldn’t let me park in one parking lot because he was afraid I would get a ticket since I didn’t have a pass. I kept telling him that the university didn’t enforce that rule for events like this, but he wouldn’t believe me. It might have had something to do with the fact that I told him that the university didn’t enforce the permit rule in the summer either, and yet, I got a ticket when I used the university library one day. Oops).

I saw my parents walking toward the building as we were heading toward the parking garage, but since my mom didn’t have her cell phone on (*AHEM* MOM), they disappeared into the crowd.

I knew where Jazz was supposed to go (he was scheduled to play with the band – he had done this last year, so we were good to go on that), but I had no idea where Dude was supposed to go. He said he was meeting his friends in “the alley”, but I didn’t see any sort of alley. We ended up walking around the building (which actually consisted of two buildings squeezed into one which translates into HUGE and I’m walking fast because the clock is ticking and I’m trying hard not to sweat because I tend to sweat in really embarrassing places and I had on khaki slacks and just .. no).

Luckily, Dude spotted his friends and before I could say “good luck!”, the kid was gone and out of sight. I continued walking around the building because Kevin and his family were in the back of the building and I was in the front, when I just happened to spot my parents at another entrance.

I say “happened” because by this time, there were hundreds of people milling around. I shoved my way through line to join them, (okay, I didn’t shove, I just politely “nudged”), called Kevin and we agreed to meet when we were allowed in.

We stood outside for about 45 minutes before they finally opened the doors. Again. Thank God it was a nice evening because that really would have sucked if it had been raining.

We found Kevin and his family and were able to snag seats in the same row. (We weren’t supposed to save seats so I was a little stressed that we would all be able to sit together).

The graduates filed in. I carefully studied the kids as they came in and when I spotted Dude, I poked my mom and mother-in-law in excitement. “There he is!” I said. My heart jumped, my breath caught and …

… it wasn’t Dude. Oops. I laughed. And felt like an idiot. Apparently, I don’t know my own son. HA!

I watched the kids like a hawk come into the room, searching each face and looking for my first-born son. When I finally spotted him, I took a half second to absorb that fact that it was actually him – that this was actually going to happen, before my heart jumped and my breath caught in my throat once again.

We had good seats. We were able to see him clearly. However, Kevin was a few seats down from me and had a better view of him than I did. He told me later that Dude was virtually stone as he sat through the ceremonies and speeches – he barely moved a muscle. I had to smile because I knew what that meant – he was really nervous.

I could understand why. To be shoved into the spotlight in front of thousands of people (the stadium was packed) for an introverted, shy personality was pretty close to hell.

We all patiently sat through introductions, songs, and speeches before the event we were all eagerly waiting for started – they began calling the seniors down to receive their diplomas. (Well actually, they didn’t receive their diplomas until afterward, but we all get the ritual, right?)

I’m surprised I had the presence of mind to even tape this. My heart was pumping so hard I was barely able to hear them call his name.

There were about 400 kids in his graduating class. That was the biggest in the city. And even though there were a lot of kids, it went pretty fast. When it was over, it was time for the kids to throw their hats into the air. I wondered if Dude would throw his hat.

He did.

When it was over, we stumbled out into the cold (BRR) and I fielded calls from both Dude and Jazz until we finally located each other. Then we took the traditional pictures:

And it was over. It was like someone had punctured a balloon and all the air was slowly leaking out. Our excitement ebbed and we headed home. Dude had had the chance to go to Project Graduation (which is a supervised party at a community center that was supposed to last until 4:00 in the morning), but he didn’t want to go, so we went to Taco Bell to buy him some food (because his “stomachache” was mysteriously better) and we went home.

We’re exciting that way.

We didn’t discover, until we were driving home, that Dude had actually gotten his diploma. They gave it to him after he left the arena. I was surprised because I thought they would just mail it to him, but nope, he was able to put it into his diploma holder and we all admired it all the way home.

And that’s it. It’s over. It’s official.

Well, it’s not over quite yet, though. We have the reception on Saturday. We were planning on having it outside on our new patio (more on that in a bit), but it looks like rain. We’ll see. This time of year is so unpredictable because even though they’re calling for rain now, the weather could easily change before Saturday. We’ll see.

So. I have a high school graduate.

I feel old. lol

So I blackmailed Dude with the whole, “but it’s MOTHER’S DAY and this is what I want for MOTHER’S DAY” [insert whiny voice] guilt trip this past weekend and made him pose for pictures with us. hehe. I’m glad to report that it worked.

He’s such a softie, my first born is.

We got some decent shots, but I wish we had had the foresight to steam the wrinkles out of the backdrops first.

GRR!

Oh well. We’ll look back on this and laugh.

I’m pretty happy with the photos, overall. I ordered three 5 x 7’s of this photo and three more 5 x 7’s of two more poses of just Dude through Snapfish. I also ordered four 4 x 6’s as well.

That’s 13 photos for a WHOPPING $10.00. Yeah. I’m pretty much in love with Snapfish. They’re affiliated with Flickr, so if you have a Flickr account and want to order prints, it will automatically send you over to Snapfish to complete your order. (You do need to sign up for an account at Snapfish, though). Not only are their prices VERY reasonable, but they deliver fast, too. I should have the photos by either Friday or Saturday.

I don’t think this whole graduation thing really hit Dude until he saw himself in his cap and gown. And I found out Tuesday night that the boy’s last “official” day of school is TODAY!! Actually, since Dude made such good grades this semester, he only has to take ONE FINAL tomorrow and that’s his first period class. After that? HE CAN LEAVE!

So today is his “official” last day of school. And I don’t think he really has a lot to do today, either. He will be going to his memories assembly and then probably goofing off and signing yearbooks the rest of the day.

He’s ECSTATIC, of course. I’m ecstatic for him! I remember how exciting it was to be a senior, feeling oh so important and “all that” *snap* around the underclassmen.

Dude has to go back to school on Tuesday morning in order to practice for graduation – and then he OFFICIALLY graduates Tuesday night. Jazz is playing with the band at graduation, so it’s going to be crazy getting everyone there and in position. Dude’s school is the last school to graduate in the city and another school will be leaving as we’re getting there so I anticipate a lot of chaos – but that’s okay, it’ll be worth it.

It still seems so unreal that we’ve reached this point. You work 13 years to get here and suddenly, HERE IT IS!! It’s just a bitter-sweet experience.

I have no idea what Dude is going to do after graduation. We’re not really going to pressure him to get a job until we get back from our vacation in late July, so he has a few months to relax and enjoy his new-found freedom. He did tell me that he wants to start experimenting with some sort of computer program and we received an OTC fall schedule in the mail the other day, so we’ll likely discuss him taking one (possibly two?) classes this fall. This will be in addition to his job, because he WILL be gainfully employed as well. (Granted the kid can find a job in this crappy economy).

He’s also expected to get up at a decent hour every morning, shower and change into regular clothes as opposed to sitting around all day in his jammies. With me, Kevin and Jazz all going our separate ways, that’s the least the boy can do. And he wants to anyway. When I asked him what time he was going to get up in the mornings he said, “7:00 o’clock,” so I’m pretty sure he knows the “rules” of living at home.

Now we just have to enforce them and show him that we’re serious.

At any rate, THIS IS IT! We’ve arrived at a crossroad in Dude’s life. Pull up a chair, have some popcorn and let’s watch to see which road he decides to take.