Thankfulness

Last week I was blogging about the ridiculously strong wind here in Lawrence. Little did I know, on that same afternoon a tornado touched down in Enterprise, Alabama, killing eight students at the local high school. Clearly, I should be very thankful that our weather wasn't as bad as theirs.

When I heard this news, nothing about the name of the town seemed familiar to me. Later in the evening, my dad called to inform me that Enterprise was right next to Ft. Rucker, which is the Army base where my cousin Brian was recently stationed with his family. Brian's daughter Johanna is a sophomore at Enterprise High School, and apparently as the threat of bad weather loomed, Brian and many other parents went there to pick up their children. As Brian was standing in the office trying to find out where Johanna was in the building, the tornado struck.

Thankfully, neither Brian or Johanna was hurt. Our family was extremely lucky, as there were apparently many serious injuries in addition to the eight deaths. I can't even imagine how frightening it must have been to have the building you're in come crashing down all around you, or how horrifying it must have been to be a parent there helping with the rescue efforts not knowing where your own child was. I know it was horrifically painful for the students whose friends were killed in the destruction, but I can't fathom how devastating it must have been to lose a child in such a disaster. Just reading about these kids whose lives ended far too soon is heartbreaking. It's just a reminder of how much we all have to be thankful for.