Not Who You Think I Am

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Tornado: Moore Strong

A year ago yesterday was when the tornado wiped out a lot of my town, including the hospital. This site was where they had the remembrance ceremony. I’m sure a google search will lead you to much more information than I could give here, but at the end of all the politicians speaking they broke ground for the new medical center.

I went to the event, in my powerchair of course. Broken foot and all. My kids helped me make a sign for the chair:

I also wrote the motto of our town on my t-shirt:

It was fun. Funny. Sad. Several people mentioned my signs, one of whom was a woman with Parkinson’s who had lost her home in the tornado. She wanted to tell me thanks, for being strong, or at least trying to be, and for showing the world. There were a lot of news organizations from around the world, many who took pictures of me and my signs. I even got interviewed by our local Fox News station. This was all great, but the reason I’m writing about it because I feel like a fraud.

You see, sometimes I have moments of strength, optimism, hope; but I feel weak now. Alone. Sad. I want to make a difference. I want to help. Show people that life’s circumstances don’t have to get you down. Unfortunately, that’s not the whole truth. Some things about life suck. Sometimes you can feel strong for a while, then you get home and realize how weak and pathetic you are. Why can’t I just feel strong all the time?

Thankfully, strength isn’t the only thing that matters. When the tornado hit, and many times since, I’ve felt incredibly weak, but maybe the weak times are when other people get a chance. To lift you up, to support and encourage; or to tear you down even more. I guess the choice is up to each individual.

Strength can be used to push someone around, or bend them to your will. It can also be used to pull someone up. I hope I make the right use of my strength when I have it. I hope you do too.

Broken foot pics (for all you freaks out there in blog land)

Don’t drink and ride in a wheelchair kids.

The sad thing is I wasn’t drunk or high or anything. How do you run over your own foot while riding in your wheelchair? Still trying to figure that one out.

I broke my foot

I broke my foot yesterday. Long story, but basically I ran over it with my power chair. How can a person do that? Me and my crazy life. Sorry, back to tornado story soon.

Tornado (part 3)

When we got home, we still couldn’t really think about what had just happened. There was too much to do. Power was out, and my husband immediately began calling people (although cell reception was horrible too), including the company he …

Tornado (continued)

When my husband and kids discovered that his parents were alive, but their home was destroyed, my husband did whatever he could to help. This included pulling their car out of the wreckage of their home, so that he could …

Tornado

It was almost a year ago when life threw a powerful curve that knocked my town to its knees. I haven’t written about it until now, but it is never far from my thoughts. An F5 tornado ripped through Moore …

Whispers

I got to guest blog over at Sage’s place. Check it out.