Last year when those massive Hurricanes ripped the earth in Alabama, & the people who live on that earth watched the Hurricane went very close to University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa & headed up to Birmingham. The storm was so big, it destroyed everything in its path, ripping house off their foundation, nothing left. Other storm came from that storm, one that was an F2 Hurricane RIPPED up through Cahaba Heights. I live in Mountain Brook. I live 3 or 4 miles from Cahaba Heights,When I think about that morning, my husband was out of town, I woke the kids up because rain was slamming sideways into my bedroom & the wind was so loud. We went downstairs to our basement. I let Blue out the door to pee, I watched him, his coat blown so hard, he was squinting. I thought the wind would take Blue from me. I called him back in. My house is surrounded by 100 foot pines 4 in the back & many more in the front. Not one fell, but i watched the trees bend over so far I thought they would crack. Reminded me of the quote,’If you don’t bend, you will break” Not one tree broke. They just bent over enough to believe I was in a dream. I called my husband, freaking out. “Amy, you’re going to be fine,”. Needless to say, That conversation lasted no longer then those words. What I didn’t’ know was that F2 Hurricane was just down the road, less then a mile. People’s house ripped, but not taken. Big trees fell on the cars & houses & some of the shopping center. That beautiful building Chickadee now resides in was destroyed, shame on me for not remembering the name of the store that was there. I think something about sheep. It hit Elizabeth’s antiques, I remember driving by the store & there was unidentified pieces of peoples lives the wind had just picked them up & dropped them where it want to, When I saw the damage, it looked like a war zone. I cried for all these people. But they rebuilt & the houses looked better then before.  They pulled up their boot straps & rebuilt their houses, replaced their cars & their lives. I wonder if I would be that strong had it me.
-amy
p.s. When David came home & he tried to see the houses & all the power trucks blocking the road, he came in the house, found me, & hugged me & said he was sorry that he wasn’t so supportive. He said,”I could have lost you, the kids, everything.” And it was very, very sincere. So Chabaha Hieghts came back, some classics, some new, some chose to close, but the shopping center with all the boutiques was not there before, they are wonderful. I bought that mirror in Elizabeth’s 10 years ago, I carried it with me through 4 moves. & I still love it, maybe a little more, because of where it had come from. The Wind did not take everything, Sometimes, the earth shows us who’s boss & leaves people lost, or they die in the storm.  We had one man die in Cahaba Heights. We are a resilient bunch of people, we rebuild. We come back stronger then before, in hope that the earth will be gentle for a while.