Monday, May 2, 2011

Marking Time


"Katy and I have been married just a bit over a year. We celebrated our first anniversary last Wednesday. I spent a great deal of effort finding just the right traditional and modern anniversary gifts. She was pleased with both. As we celebrated the first of what we hoped would be many milestones, little did we know what we would face in a short few days.

Although the traditional gift for a first anniversary is paper, it is the tall grandfather clock that remains, standing amidst the ruins of our new house. It is marking time, moving forward, much as our marriage must move forward through this setback."

Congratulations to Jenny and all Centusians for our one year anniversary. I am a bit late in posting, as we had been without power for 4 days, as a result of a catastrophic storm system. This historic storm system spawned record numbers of tornadoes in our area, an area that rarely sees such dangerous phenomena. The storm system lasted for over 14 hours. Their were three tornado spawning waves. Many lives were lost. We faired much better than many, with no known damage to life or property. It was nonetheless scary. We sought refuge in the basement three times. We know many people whose lives were affected in dramatic fashion. The photograph I post with this was taken between storm waves from atop Lookout Mtn. at the hang gliding jump off spot. It is a view across Lookout Valley to Sand Mtn. Alabama. We began to see a lightning storm over Sand Mtn. and thought it was time to hurry back home to prepare for "round two". It was this very storm brewing that would spawn the EF-3 tornado which would wreak havoc and claim two lives in the community of Trenton, GA in the valley below.

Lives are forever changed here. We now have a new community mindset as regards tornadoes.

Jenny Matlock


9 comments:

  1. My oldest son lives in Nashville, my middle daughter lives in Memphis, and I have a grandson in Alabama, very close to where the tornadoes hit. I was frantically calling to be sure everyone was safe. I know you are right when you say lives are forever changed.

    When we lived in Chicago, we spent many a dinnertime in the hallway of our house with our plates on our laps as the sirens whined! When I lived in Atlanta, I actually outran a tornado in my car! Whenever I am coming down with an illness, I always dream about tornadoes the night before!

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  2. Such an awful thing to go through, glad you and your family are ok. I see your story reflects the devastation too. Take care:@)

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  3. Jeff I was thinking of you and Kathy that night and praying you were safe. It was a devastating night for so many. We had the storm go north and south of us but so many were ravaged by it. I am thankful you are both OK. hugs, Linda

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  4. Hey Jeff! I'm so glad you and your wife are okay. What terrible storms we've seen lately. Good to see you joining in the Sat Centus, too.

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  5. Those storms have caused such tragedy. Glad to hear that you and yours weathered the storm okay.

    =)

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  6. Jeff, I'm so happy you and your wife are safe. As always, you are in my thoughts and prayers. By the way, your centus was, as usual, nicely written.

    Namaste..........cj

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  7. Great job ! Especially considering what you all have been through...scary ! God bless you and so glad to hear you are safe !!!

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  8. I didn't realize these had gotten so close to you.

    How terrifying.

    This phrase, 'marking time, moving forward, much as our marriage must move forward' becomes incredibly poignant when I read it again with correct geography in mind.

    The weather trends are really frightening. I'm so glad you and your family weathered the storm.

    Thanks for linking, Jeff.

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