Make New Memories

Some are silver, others gold and some may get really wet

Lately, it seems or feels like the chances or perhaps opportunities to have our house whipped up by some tornado are increasing. It’s a chilling thought. So many folks have had to go through this crummy situation; from Oklahoma to Tennessee to Minnesota (and all points in between and beyond). I can’t imagine.

Thoughts of the Wizard of Oz go through my mind, only worse – because some people have actually been through it and lost all they had – from their home to their photos to their loved ones. Of course the media makes it all visible – news coverage, internet headlines - nothing left to the imagination, not that you want to imagine such storming.

There is a drive that I take almost daily, through a neighborhood in Minneapolis. Driving past houses that are 80 – 90 years old, I am amazed at how this area looks as it did when first developed - like a new suburban subdivision. My meaning is that some great number (perhaps 93%) of the tall mature trees have disappeared – due to a “low level” (class 1?) tornado that hit the area a couple years ago. The sun comes through immense, there is not shade along the boulevard, the houses are all lined up, one after another, colorful boxes filled with photographs, memories and pride. There is even a house or two that still has tarp attached to their roof.

Joplin, MO tornado wreckage - Photo courtesy via CC

My oldest is not a fan of weather. He cowers at the thought of incoming rain or a passing storm – especially in the evening. We have tried to explain that if it storms really bad – we head to the basement, if there is a fire – we head to the neighbors. When we mention this, it sounds like we’re selling some odd insurance policy. I imagine our future conversations about drugs and sex will be the same way. Can’t wait for those.

Am I prepared? Is my family? U2 had that album, All That You Can’t Leave Behind and I take that title to heart (even moreso than the music within). I imagine a refugee, (a term I don’t use lightly) wondering about with the clothes on their back and not much else. Thoughts go to Haiti, Somalia, Minot, ND and yes our very neighbors in Minneapolis’ south and north sides.

These days - as if making your mortgage payment was easy - it would be a somber thought to have to make new memories encapsulated on film or some digital format - and have the old memories left as thoughts benign.

Today I am especially thankful for what I have.

And with every storm there is that “ender” - that last rumbling thunder that seems to say “all right, I’ve done enough, come out and see the rainbow.”