Monday, May 07, 2007

Kansas Anymore



Several severe tornadoes have hit Kansas in the last few days.



I see the photos of flattened homes. The little town of Greensburg is practically wiped off the face of those wide plains.

News like this touches us momentarily and then we move on. There is so much disaster everywhere... can't just bog down, life carries on.

But I can't numb myself to this one because friends of ours live in Greensburg. Tim and Deanne Garrett lost their home, their garage, their two cars.

Thankfully, their family is safe. All their stuff, though, is gone.

I remember our house fire almost fifteen years ago. I remember the weird almost euphoric feeling of realizing I owned just about nothing. There is something very nice about that.

But I also remember the grief of little treasures lost. I think about the photographs that must be gone... photos of their boys, their years in Ireland and Scotland, their wedding. I think about journals and letters, paintings and drawings that the guys would have done when they were little... Then there's all the practical stuff too: book keeping and banking records, birth certificates, passports... just the whole lot.

My last post was called Thoughts Amid the Rubble but it should have just been Thoughts Amid the Mess. Greensburg understands rubble.

I pray for the Garretts as I pack.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

DeAnn was heading back to the rubble today to search out her jewelry box - her wedding ring was inside. As you said, freeing in a sense, but some precious cargo lost as well.

Rebecca said...

We lost all of our treasures in a flood...all the things we had saved from our kiddies growing up (aka..little sparkly red shoes) amd it is not an easy thing to go throoooooooo, as you know...so I will pray for your friends as I understand.

Carrie said...

I'm glad your friends are safe, but I'll be praying for them. I can't even imagine.

Anonymous said...

I am praying for the Garrett's,too. Thank God they are all safe.
XO

Anonymous said...

PS

I heard that DeAnn found her jewelry box and rings! And that George W. stopped by.