Like a Lion

I’m sure you have heard the old saying March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. Well, that lion certainly made a loud roar this year. We had a couple of tornadoes in the area on Friday. The chaos began Friday morning around 9:00 or so. Some of the same neighborhoods that were hit on April 27th of last year were hit again as well as other areas of North Alabama.

This time around I personally know three people whose homes were hit; one family’s house is basically gone, another one had the roof blown off and another one just sustained some minor damage. At least no lives were lost and that is always a positive in these types of situations.

Other area of the country were also hit and sustained much more damage than we did here in Alabama and many lives were lost in those states. We were very lucky this time around. Since we’ve had such a warm winter, I suspect that we will have a very turbulent spring. So, brace yourself, folks, the craziness is only beginning.

Also at the end of last week, two people I know died. The first was Walter Vinson who has been friends with my family for many years. We have a lot of fond memories with Walter and his wife Susan. He had Alzheimer’s and at the end didn’t even know Susan. What a terrible disease. Walter died on leap day, which I find to be interesting for no particular reason other than it only comes around every four years.

The second person to pass was the lovely Betty Tucker, who was best friends with my late grandmother. Betty’s funeral was three years to the day that my grandmother died, which I found to be very fascinating. I’m not sure if fascinating is the right word, but I’m having a hard time thinking of the word I want to use here. One of the items the family had displayed at the funeral was a poem that my grandmother had written back in 1975 for Betty Tucker and two of her other friends. It was a lovely expression of the friendship they shared. The Tuckers and my family have been friends for three generations now. Betty was one of the kindest and most wonderful people I knew and she will be missed here in this life.

Amongst all the sadness and post-storm chaos, Jackie and I managed to carve out some time for a shopping trip at Bridge Street. I bought some jeans and a shirt from White House Black Market and a sweater from Coldwater Creek, all three on sale. I also bought a new pair of brown shoes from Clark’s but they had to be ordered because they didn’t have my size. I hope they work out okay because they are meant to replace my beloved brown shoes, but will probably only pale in comparison. Hopefully they will work out okay.

Sunday evening we had a going away soiree for our interim minister who has been such a blessing to our congregation and to me in particular. He has brought us some wonderful and challenging lessons and I am so grateful he came our way. He will be missed.

It’s back to the grind again tomorrow. I don’t have anything overly exciting planned for the week, but with any luck I’ll surely be able to find something to tell you all about. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and that your week is off to a good start!