Alive and well in Prattville, AL

We recently had a tornado do a bit of destruction to our home and the community on the afternoon of February 17, 2008. We were fortunate in that none of our friends or neighbors lost their lives. My wife and I were in the bathtub, as were most of our neighbors and friends. The tornado did much damage, but we are grateful, because the city inspector has accepted the structural engineer's plan, and on Wednesday, they will begin the demolition of a portion of our home and begin rebuilding. I post this because of a perspective given to me by my 13 year old grandson who on the morning after the destruction was walking through our garden and said, " Pappaw, I'm just thinking about something - look at all of your little trees ( dwarf JM) and shrubs. They are still O.K." We hugged, and he helped me take a step forward. I've missed viewing some of the discussions on this forum, and I will miss more, but this is a good and decent place, and after awhile, I'll be learning from you. To those of you who belive in God or some power above us, I tell you, I have received strength from my belief.
P.S. It does sound like a locomotive, and it is really, really, fast.

Speaking for myself, I am glad to "hear" that you are safe and that you are moving forward positively. It sounds like others took worse.

Our thoughts are with you during this period of recovery; don't hesitate to call on us if we can help in any small way.

Same here. You are very fortunate and things could have been much worse. Good luck with your recovery and new perspective. God bless.

Victor

So very glad you and your family were not injured. I wish you a swift and uncomplicated rebuilding.

So incredibly sorry to hear this has happened to you and your family. Your grandson sounds like a very special little person.

Oh peony--thank God y'all made it through O.K. We got heavy rain out of that same system over here in Vicksburg, MS, but I remember it being in the news that y'all got hit hard with some tornado action. I keep up with AL since my son's girlfriend lives in Birmingham. We went through a tornado over in Bossier City, LA a few years ago while visiting my Mom (Easter weekend). God was watching out for us too. Two houses down from her house all four houses at the intersection were demolished (no one was home). It's a scary thing to go through (it DOES sound like a freight train!), but we have to be thankful if we live through it. I'm sure it's not the number one thought on your mind but, if you lost flowers and would like replacements, post them on DG sometime and I will see if I have any of what you want and send them to you. Hope everything works out for you.

Thank you for your supportive and nice comments. We are moving our household goods back into our home Monday this coming week. We have been so fortunate - we had a great insurance company and a great general contractor. It could not have gone better. We are so proud to be residents of this great community. Everyone has been so great. No one sat around waiting for help. Everyone just started pulling debris to the curb, and our magnificent city employees with the help from various city, county, and state agencies started hauling the stuff away. At latest count, 80 homes in our extended neighborhood have been demolished. There will be others to follow. Two homes down from us and forward are all gone. We were so fortunate. Your tax dollars were not used here, because all of us were insured. Stats say 98%, but the feds did not give us anything. Our city government could use it, but we will do o.k. Have a great day.