Tornado Hits Arkansas, North Little Rock

I am a poet, and I won't claim to write a wonderful article here. The feeling and emotion that the tornado brought up to me; too much for me to perceive. I will not promise to fill you with an informative article on facts. Instead my article should fill you with the insight.

Thank God my family and son are safe. It is 3:45, and finally I have heard from my father. He lives one town over from where the tornado hit North Little Rock last night. My son lives in that same town. The panic I have felt as I watch more detail through the day reminded me how it can all change. All in an instant, your life can change. My childhood memories of places I lived and had been, gone from me in an instant. The tornado went through my childhood last night like a bad dream.

As a mother without her child, the tornado hit me square in the face. As the storm hit, I was asleep in pain. I tried to call my son before I called it a night. They didn't answer; now I see why. I had no idea how the weather was. I knew that in Memphis it was starting to stir. For the first time ever, when the weather got bad, I didn't receive one phone call. No one to tell me what was going on. No one to tell me they were safe. I went to sleep thinking everything was fine, normal. My son says Cabot was hit, his skateboard park gone. The house his grandma lives in has no electricity still. A tree fell next to his step-mom's house. Scared was he, with a mattress atop him all night. The worry that every mother feels, hits us so hard when we are faced with it hitting your family. Especially a mother so far away.

Starting with the Benton/ Bryant area I used to hang in, the tornado went down Highway 5. Destroying many peoples home and businesses. Personally affecting a friend of mine. Highway 5 Auto Salvage, some might not think something like this would effect. "A yard full of junk," they'd say. Until you are the owner of the junk that flew away. The tornado left these towns in a big disaster area. The looks of war would more describe the surroundings.

As always, the tornado headed towards a house that I used to own. The house that my mother bought when it was just us; my childhood home. This home was where my childhood began in my eyes. A small house in this country club town. The house my mother fought so hard to keep just so I could be in the best school, have the best neighborhood to play, and the best town that would persuade me to become something big. North Little Rock Airport, not two miles away. Many friends and professional affiliates keep their planes docked there.

Watching the pictures and videos of the tornado last night sent so many chills up my spine. I had to turn the TV off. At least until my father called to say he was all right, that Cabot didn't get hit, and he was sure my son was fine, too. Until last year, North Little Rock was my home, my stomping grounds, and all I knew. I left this place a year ago in need of a better life. I have many good memories of North Little Rock. My childhood happiness was there. As in the instant, I decided to move; the instant came that would change the town, too.

My first-hand experience on memories now indulge me so deep. My thoughts and prayers go to families affected, for now we all have a community to rebuild, a new memory for our children to make. The weather keeps us amazed and constantly does change. Appearing the weather is getting stronger in the wake of its storms, we should all come together to be stronger against these storms. Too many times, does an instant like this have to happen before we unite. One day, hopefully in our children's time, we will be better prepared as a person, a city, a state, and a nation for disasters that strike.