The Tornado: One Year Later

It was one year ago today when I wrote a short little post sharing the news that a tornado came through our neighborhood.  I had mixed feelings about writing anything about it on its "anniversary", but considering that I will always remember May 22nd for that reason, I felt like I had to say something about it.  I don't know if it will be very wise or insightful, but here it goes...

I looked back through the photos of that day & the posts that I wrote and I thought two things:

1. I still can't believe that really happened 

and

2. Man, I was overly dramatic about the whole situation

I guess in some ways I feel silly looking back at the experience and the way that I shared some of it through our blog.  There were soooo many terrible tornadoes and storms last year and ours seemed so insignificant in comparison.  Alex and I along with our neighbors were so fortunate to have our homes and belongings following the storm unlike those in cities like Tuscaloosa or Joplin.  I just can't imagine. 

Where the tornado does have a lot of significance is the role it will play in the history of North Minneapolis.  Unfortunately, the Northside as a whole doesn't have the best reputation. Even with cute pockets like Homewood, certain parts of North certainly do earn their negative reputation and needed something big to happen to spark some sort of change.  But only time will tell whether the tornado helped or hurt North Minneapolis further. 

I'm of course thinking on the positive side :)

I can only hope that communities came together and became stronger after the tornado... I know ours did!

For now, I thought I'd share a glimpse of how far our little neighborhood has come along since that day, exactly one year ago... then and now.

  

It still breaks my heart when I think of all of those mature trees that we lost. But I am thankful that the city and the Tree Trust organization has already planted replacements that will be just as big and beautiful in the years to come. The Tree Trust even has a donation website in memory of our neighbor Rob MacIntyre who passed away while assisting in the clean up efforts following the tornado.

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So I guess there you have it, one year later... silly me for thinking things would never get put back together :) I only wish I knew then what I know now about dealing with a weather fiasco and all the stress that follows. My advice- whether the storm is big or small, make sure you know what to do if it happens to you.

Now, I am going to enjoy this beautiful day! Totally unlike last year, no cutting down trees, cleaning up our yard, or hauling a tree out of our roof, LOL!  Chilling & grilling is more like it!