Well, a lot has happened since last I wrote. My home state of Alabama was ravaged by a slew of tornadoes, among the towns most devastated was my (kind of, sort of) hometown of Hackleburg. I grew up in the boonies, not really in any town but smack dab in between both Hamilton and Hackleburg. I went to school in Hackleburg through second grade and then switched to Hamilton, buses from each of the schools passed our house.
My mother owned a beauty shop in H'burg, and my dad was police chief there for more than twenty-five years. Although. I've been gone from there for more years now than I care to admit, the news of it's destruction was devastating and would have been even if my sister had not been so tragically affected. She lost her beloved fiance, Chris Dunn, and her home as well as every item in it. The house was torn from it's foundation, plumbing and all.
The first hours after the hit were spent in "real time" texting my sister. I cannot explain how compelled I felt to contact her right at 4pm, my time, 3 hers other than it had to be a God thing. This is exactly the time the event was transpiring. I first asked "you still okay"- Tabatha's response was "for now-but it's bad, bad, bad". We then went back and forth a few times, me just confirming she was still there. Then at 4:15 I got one that said "one just hit my house and Chris was in it". What do you say to that? I had no response. Just "you'll be okay". Our parents, who live about six miles from her, had yet to be heard from. I finally got through to Mother, who informed me Daddy had gone to look for Tab. I was able to tell mother that Tabatha was alive and the relief as she cried out was heart wrenching. Please know that Tabatha's phone was only able to text at this point and Mother doesn't do that (although she is adding the feature to her plan now and intends to learn). My last contact with Tabatha was at 4:39 when she said that she was "going to look for help". Thus began the hour and a half when we lost contact with her. When we finally were able to communicate again, she disclosed her location and my brother-in-law who had driven from an hour away to check on the family was able to reach her and get her to Daddy, who took her home. A few days later, I learned that Daddy had made it all the way out to Tab's house and thought that she most certainly had been killed, he sat there a while and then drove home to tell our mother. Mother was able to assure him that she indeed did survive. What a blessing that she was already aware of it. Another thing I learned from Tabatha, was that although she had received several texts while we were communicating, I was the only one she could text back, and I thank God for that tiny miracle too.
Although our relief at her safety was great, the magnitude of the devastation only became apparent in the hours and days following as the death toll rose and Chris was counted among it. He was not the only fatality on Gunnin Drive. Both couples in the houses on either side of Tabatha and Chris were killed, as well as the couple across the street who were pulled from the "safety" of their basement by the EF-5 tornado. Tab is in fact the ONLY survivor from among the residents of Gunnin, this brings us, her family, great joy and while thankful for her life and safety too, Tabatha is dealing with "survivor's guilt".
For the three days following the tornadoes, I watched the details unfold on the internet especially on facebook where I saw and heard from people who were in the midst of Hackleburg. I was consumed. I spent three days clicking, searching and reading any snippet of information I could find. The town was declared 75% destroyed by the Red Cross Disaster Response Team. 31 of 32 businesses in the town were destroyed or heavily damaged including the Wrangler Distribution Center , the town of 1500's main employer, the only grocery store(Piggly Wiggly), the only general merchandise retailer(Dollar General) and both the elementary and high school.
When we went in for the funeral, the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach only intensified at seeing it for myself. Completely gone. Trees, buildings, families..the utter carnage was just overwhelming and the thing is it didn't even happen to me. I can't begin to understand how those actually living it feel.
My sister is still reeling and doesn't look to stop any time soon. She lost every material thing she owned and the man she loved, she thought both her pets (Bear, the dog and Boo, the cat) to be dead as well. The body of her cat was found but her dog, well he's a different story. In a scene seemingly made for t.v., Tabatha stepped on a nail the day after the storm while she was going through debris in the area surrounding where her house once stood. Because of the injury, she had to go to the triage center to have her foot treated, when she arrived an amazing thing happened..she found her dog. It had just been brought into the center as well. Bear was found in a tree a mile and a half from where the house had been. He didn't sustain any broken bones but was and still is shaken. Bear ,though always loved, has become a comfort to her in this time like nothing and no one else.
