What a Difference...

We’ve all heard what a difference a day makes, but the reality is that even an instant or an inch can change peoples’ lives forever. Just a mile and a half south of us, the Wednesday morning tornado destroyed a barn, a two-story house (empty I think), and severely damaged the large vacated arena west of them. I was so grateful that our son-in-law had not rented a place to store his combine in that building.

When the 1982 tornado hit Marion, I learned how locations seemed to be chosen weirdly and randomly to be destroyed while others close by survived. Our neighboring citizens in Ridgeway and Harrisburg have had that same terribly painful lesson forced on them. So have many others in our region and across the South. Six people in Harrisburg were killed rather than the l0 that was reported during the confusion, but across the nation, at least 26 have lost their lives.

So far our family has always been incredibly fortunate during natural disasters. In 1982 after Mary Ellen came running downstairs from her bedroom to tell us the radio had announced a tornado had hit Marion and was heading down Route 13 in our direction, we frantically phoned Gerry and Vickie and baby Tara to leave the mobile home they were renting a couple roads away from Route 13 and come to our house. We had no basement, so I am not sure what we would have done if the tornado had shifted a few miles south. We stood in the yard and watched the tornado lift after it destroyed the McDonald house on Route 166. It then headed over rather than through our village of Crab Orchard, where a good many people who had made fun of Bobby and Katherine Sanders’ storm shelter were now crowded into it.

The McDonalds’ lovely home was destroyed while the two houses on either side of it were left intact. They rebuilt, and you would never know it today. However, someone quoted one of them as saying the loss of the house was not consequential—because not too long before that they had lost their beautiful young adult son in a freak hunting accident when he drowned while coon hunting one dark night. Watching their family cope with all the problems they have endured has been an inspiration to even those of us who did not know them well. Their faith-filled lives through all their serious health problems since then have magnified the words Pastor McDonald spoke from the pulpit when he was yet alive. There is no good explanation why one house or one life is taken by the wind, while the others of us nearby escape and are allowed to continue normally. Nor is there an explanation why some families seem to have far more that their share of disasters.

One of the 1982 stories I remember most vividly was of a teenage boy talking on the phone in his upstairs bedroom in his home he had always lived in. The next moment, the house was destroyed and he was out in the yard with a broken arm. As a person who does not tolerate change very well, I have thought of that story so much wondering how would one cope mentally with such unexpected sudden change.

After the weekend funerals and the restoration of electric power in Harrisburg, the children have returned to school. People hoped this gave the kids both a sense of normalcy as well as opportunity to tell each other their storm stories. I was a little irritated by a huge headline in our area paper saying that the healing begins. I don’t think so. By now maybe some are coming out of shock, but people who lost loved ones or everything they own are not ready to start healing yet. And some will never heal from the losses sustained when they lay down to sleep in their own beds assuming they’d wake up in those same beds.

Volunteers with chain saws and heavy boots have poured in to help, and collection sites for donated goods are all over the region. I have to live with my guilt that the day before this happened, I returned the last request for a donation from the area Red Cross with a note on the back asking to be removed from their mailing list. I have always heard wonderful things about the one who directs the Red Cross in our area, and I guess those letters produce needed funds. However, I give when I can to the many important charities that I want to support and feel pain I cannot give more, but never do I give because of a phone call and rarely because of constant repeat letters. I give because I think it is important to help. I don’t like begging letters filling my mailbox and using up the nation’s trees. Because of the extra need caused by the tornado, we will be making a donation now, of course, but not because of a letter requesting it.

When we heard our friends Bill and Mickey had their bedroom roof torn off barely giving them time to get out of their bedroom alive, my first thought was we should tell them to come to our house, but then I realized I couldn’t extend that invitation because our house including the couches would be full all weekend. (There were ten sleeping here Saturday night because the grandkids arranged what they call a “cousins’ weekend” so they could be here to support Sam, whose high school musical was last weekend.)

My second thought was that they would go to their brother’s home just across the way from them on an adjoining farm; they would want to be close to supervise what needs to be done. They probably did go there the day it happened, but fortunately only the bedroom roof and not what was below it was destroyed. So they are sleeping in their finished downstairs quarters where they have rooms for visiting family. Mickey was quoted in the newspaper story as just being grateful to God for their narrow escape. In one of Bill’s calls left our answering machine, he was rejoicing over help they’ve been given by friends and family. I met someone yesterday from their nearby town, and she told me they were both at church Sunday despite Bill’s still being in a back brace from the recent surgery.

Humans are amazingly resilient despite the onslaught of problems often thrown at them. And tragedies such as the tornados can bring out the very best in people not only in our region but wherever the tornados have hit. Sadly the very worst comes out in some people. As I understand it, thousands lined the street at the funerals Saturday to protect the families in case the Westboro Baptist “Church” made good their threats that they were coming to protest or celebrate or whatever they claim to do when families are devastated by loss. Evidently this is one of their new tactics—to make threats and upset people and then not show. The grieving families had to appreciate the human fence of strangers come to show their love and prevent any disruption. And people in Harrisburg will appreciate the ones coming tomorrow to clean out a vacated store, which will provide a place for the tons of donations to be distributed. If not volunteering, we have been asked to stay away from the destruction, but from what I read online, I believe that already each day does make a difference—this time for the better.



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Women's Softball Season Well Underway; So Is Tornado Season

With the coming of the women’s college softball season, we are once again eating meals at times downstairs in Gerald’s office while we follow games on Game Tracker on his computer.

We were excited about Gerry, Vickie, and Geri Ann, who were flying out for the Cathedral Classic in California. Of course, their daughter Tara Archibald, who is an assistant coach, was there also, so Gerald enjoyed imagining all the fun and excitement that Tara’s husband Bryan was having back home in Watkinsville taking care of three sons under six years old. Bryan is a family hero.

University of Georgia went to the Cathedral Classic ranked thirteen in the national polls; and after a 4-1 record there, the Bulldogs were declared number seven this week. They defeated Arizona, Cal State Fullerton, UCLA, and Oklahoma but lost to Washington. Winning over those kinds of teams will take away the worries that UGA’s losing eight great seniors were going to be known as a rebuilding team this year. Last year’s seniors—Jennie Auger, Brianna Hesson, Alisa Goler, Sarah McCloud, Katie Murphy, Taylor Schlopy, Laura Trout, and Megan Wiggins—were certainly a great loss, but this year’s young team is also obviously capable of great ball playing. It is going to be a good season.

Erin with Southern Illinois University Carbondale was down in Disney Land in Florida at the Citrus Classic last weekend, and we understood they were to have one game televised on ESPS 3 online. I had to be in town at that time, and we assumed we would not be able to get the streaming on our slow-speed reception. In Central Illinois, however, Mary Ellen watched both Erin’s game and also the University of Georgia’s game and was delighted with both wins. Sheri Beasley, who lives in our community but yet several miles from us, told me at Center’s pot luck on Sunday that their reception was great. SIUC had lost their first game that morning to undefeated Florida State (13-0) by 2-0, but then they run-ruled Marshall 10-2. On Sunday they beat St. John’s 4-3.

So our SIUC team is opening their first home games this weekend feeling good. The Coach B Classic (in honor of former Coach Kay Brechtelsbauer) will start games at 10 Saturday morning at Charlotte West Stadium. SIUC plays Western Illinois at 12 noon and then Wright State at 4 pm. They play Northern Illinois at 1 p.m. Sunday and SIU Edwardsville at 5.

Because of Sam’s participation in the pit orchestra for West Side Story at the Marion Civic Center on Friday and Saturday, cousins are coming downstate and will be at Woodsong on Saturday night. So I am not sure how much of the Coach B Classic we can attend.

I started this blog yesterday, but so much has happened since that I was not sure if I should finish it or not. I have just added to the title.

In late afternoon we learned that Gerald’s brother Garry had passed out and was being taken by ambulance to Southeastern Missouri Hospital at Cape Girardeau. This is doubly traumatic because his wife Ginger has suffered short term memory loss since December 2001 because of a stroke and Garry supervises her care. Last evening was filled with communication about all this with the final phone call being from our niece Vicki after l0. She had brought her mother back to their farm and given her the night’s meds and gave me the latest report on Garry although they still knew very little.

The next phone call we received was from Vicki this morning at twenty till five. We were sleeping soundly despite the raging storm outside. She was watching a tornado on television moving through and it looked like we were in its path. Almost immediately after her all call, our REA electricity went off. With a flashlight, Gerald went to his truck in the garage and learned the tornado had touched down near Creal Springs, a village just barely south of us and was headed to Harrisburg east of us. By then it was 5, which is when Gerald usually gets up, so he made arrangements to meet his brother Keith for breakfast since there would be no coffee at our house. They had already planned last night to head to Cape to see Garry.

Without television or radio, it was not until I went to town later that I found out that Marion was also without electricity. We learned three people had been killed in Harrisburg. Marion schools were called off. Electricity was soon back in Marion, however, and Sam and I had a good breakfast together at Cracker Barrel where we saw our niece Marla and husband with their grandson Michael. Mary Ellen had read on Facebook about a neighbor just south of us who heard the tornado go over their house, so she called to see if we were all right. By the time I got back to the farm, our lights were burning also.

Going down to the computer to check on Facebook what all had happened, I learned the death toll in Harrisburg had risen to l0. Writer friends were worrying about novelist Lois Barrett, who lives there.

Then I learned that our very special friends Bill and Mickey Tweedy, who live in a lovely house they built on a scenic spot on his home place high in the Alto Pass hills in Union County, had been hit by the tornado. Bill’s daughter Glenna down in Georgia reported this and asked for prayers. They had to run from their bedroom as it collapsed around them. They also lost two barns. This too was doubly bad because Bill has just had surgery on his back since the two surgeries he had a couple years ago were not successful. Although this doctor was not ready to order physical therapy yet, he already had Bill walking two miles a day and we were so happy for this success. I hope and pray that the running did not hurt his back in any way.

I phoned Gerald at the hospital to report yet another traumatic event.
I received calls from my brother Jim up in Mattoon after Vivian’s sister in Vienna had phoned them with the tornado news. Next my sister Rosemary down in Amarillo and my cousin Ken in California phoned after they heard about Harrisburg on the national news. I was grateful to be able to tell them we were just fine, but I felt bad knowing so many families right now are not.

Two Days at Dixon Springs and Tough Times in America

Rain has finally stopped, but more is expected. Large areas of Southern Illinois are inundated. People in Cairo, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, have been told to evacuate by midnight tonight. Floodwalls there were built to protect against a 64 foot water level, and the river is likely to reach over 60 feet tomorrow. The long period of stress there, however, creates danger of the levees breaking. Our state is holding our breath that this historic town with close to 3,000 citizens will not be flooded.

Meanwhile, two barges with 265 tons of explosives are waiting to possibly break a two-mile stretch of the levee at Bird’s Point, Missouri, if the Army Corps of Engineers deems it necessary to save Cairo. If this happens, 130,000 acres of prime farm land may be flooded making the land unusable for perhaps as long as a decade. I have read estimates of from 75-l00 homes in this area. I am holding my breath for these people also.

A lawsuit was settled quickly when Missouri tried to block Army Corps of Engineer plans. The federal judge in Cape Girardeau ruled in favor of the Corps of Engineers, who have been given responsibility and authority by Congress to make such decisions.

Sandbagging has been going on in many areas of our state including Union County, where Gerald and I grew up. Although Tuesday and Wednesday had to be cancelled, we did get to have the last two days of Stewardship Week at the Dixon Springs Agriculture Center, where school children come in for the day and experience the out-of-doors walking from station to station and learning about many environmental and nature topics.

Despite the fact that their home in Karnak had to have its water shut off in these unpleasant times, Scott Morris, who became interested in Indian languages when he was just 15, kept his commitment to help me at our Trail of Tears station. He taught the children some Cherokee words and sang “Amazing Grace” in Cherokee, Choctaw, and Creek. When Scott told how Cherokee boys used blowguns to help obtain game for the family table, we saw some little boys’ eyes light up.

Today’s kids are so well behaved and polite (thanks to conscientious teachers whom we heard reminding the kids before they came into our station), and it is a joy to share history and information with them.

We were in a tent this year, and the ground inside stayed muddy—very muddy. I brought an old piece of carpet the second day to put down after I had a shoe stick in the mud on Thursday. Teachers had advised kids to wear boots if they had them, and many did. I cleaned a great deal of mud off two pairs of Birks first thing this morning —but I noticed after they dried, that I still need to give them a second cleaning.

I am not about to complain, however, knowing how many people in our area are suffering and that a large part of the southern states are devastated by tornadoes. It was interesting on Facebook, that one young woman from our community, was serving as“information center” with her daughter and friend at Tuscaloosa where there was, of course, no electricity or land line phones. She was watching damage and weather reports on the web and sending the information down to them. Somehow she and they were able to text each other on one phone (not the other) during the scary ordeal when the friend’s parents were missing. (They were safe.)

It has been a difficult week for so many people, and I am glad it is over. I told the kids at our Trail of Tears station about the Cherokee kids who were their ages and walked a 1,000 miles under terrible weather conditions. Those Cherokee kids proved that humans can do tough things if they have to, and I tried to impress on these school children that they too can do tough things if they are required to do so. I wish I were not hearing thunder right now.