Wow...just wow.

I can't believe all the terrible things that have happened in the past 36 hours. What can you really say?

Yesterday around 6:45 mom woke me up, saying we were going to go to Scottsboro to take my driver's test and get her license renewed (it was her birthday...). Even in my sleepiness I told her that we'd never make it up there because of the storms. And if we did, it'd be closed. I wasn't very happy. We agreed to take the baby, Elissa, with us so that Aunt Stephanie could get some things done for work. Right after the baby got there, is when the storm started. It wasn't bad at first...I even fell asleep waiting on it to go by. I woke up with a phone call from my Dad saying we needed to get ready cause it was about to get bad. Soon after, the tornado sirens at Bryant School went off. Loud enough for us to hear it, about 5 minutes away. Dad called again saying that there was a tornado heading towards Bryant and it will be there in minutes. So mom told me to hold the baby and get in the bathtub with a couch cushion over my head (they say that's one of the safest places to be in a trailer...we have a double-wide). Mom went over to get Grandmother so we would all be together...they took so long coming back, and things got so bad so quickly, I ended up getting out of the bathtub to be ready to help them as they came over...I thought I'd have to help one of them, especially if they fell. I was so nervous my whole body was shaking and I was tearing up...I hate being alone, especially in a storm. Especially with a 6 month old baby. But they finally made it over and the storm passed not long after.

After all was calm, the sun even came out! I thought, how in the world could another storm be just a couple hours away? Well, it really was. Mom and Grandmother thought they'd try and go on to Scottsboro after getting a hold of the court house and finding out that they were still open. They got right up the road and turned back around. Decided not to risk it, I guess. That was probably around 10 a.m. est. Around 2:30, the sky started to get dark. The wind started to pick up until the trees looked like they were about to snap in half. I had been watching Schindler's List and ended up just turning it off. I got nervous for Grandmother who was at her house a few yards away, alone. So me and mom decided to go check on her before it go too bad...we walked off the porch, took 2 steps and heard popping noises...then mom yelled "ouch!" We looked, and hail was coming down. We ran back up the porch and into the house and just prayed that Grandmother would be okay. We watched for a long time, and I even videoed the quarter sized hail a little bit but it was coming down hard. Dad was headed home right in the middle of all of this..he works in Tiftonia, where they had gotten hit BAD that morning. The hail was coming down hard enough to dent Dad's car so he stopped on the side of the road to stop further damage and so it wouldn't bust out his windshield. I told him I'd rather the car be tore up and him home than for him to stop on the side of the road...but he loves his car. Finally it slacked off enough for Dad to get home. I feel like I finally could breath when Daddy walked in the house.

Around 6, we were sooo hungry, the power had just went off, but I found out Cassie's restaurant was open...cooking with gas. So I text Cassie and we went to go get it. She actually had never gotten my text so we sat over there as she was at the restaurant ALONE and cooked all this food for us. It started to hail a little and we decided to sit over there with her for a few minutes until it calmed down and hopefully her boyfriend got back from getting a generator. So once it calmed down, we headed home. Mom told me to keep an eye on the skies in case I saw something...it even started hailing again before we got home. But thankfully we made it into the house, soaked, but safe. Not long after, we got a text from Cassie saying that her people had just gotten back so it worked out perfectly. Actually, it didn't even get that bad at our house the third time. It kept raining, thundered and lightning-ed a few times but that was about it. The rest of the night was relatively calm and I actually slept so well. Could be from all the stress of trying to make sure all of my family and friends were okay, maybe because it was pitch black and nothing else to do...I don't know.

Sadly through all of these storms, I lost a dear friend of mine, Chelsie Boatner-Black. Honestly, when I found out I couldn't believe it. I even said no she didn't! It's so hard to wrap my head around the fact that one day someone can be on Facebook, posting pictures or saying how much she loved a certain show, and the next, she's gone. Chelsie graduated with me in 2009...in my Senior book she wrote how she couldn't wait to see me receive the Holyghost. Sadly, she never got to see me with it. But I will make her proud. And one day, I will see her again! I love you Chelsie! You are greatly missed already!

Also, we've lost Morgan Sigler and Scott Atterton...Morgan lived right up the road from me and Scott lived right around "the loop" growing up. They were both very sweet people and very funny. I hate to think they they had so much life to live and so much potential but it was taken away so quickly! All the deaths and losses that have happened lately have made me really think. Life is short. Live it up, but live for the Lord. Do the best you can do. Love EVERYBODY. Petty fights are NOT worth it in the end.

So if you're reading this, and you've read this far, you're a true friend. lol I know you probably didn't really care, but you read anyways. I would like you to know (yes, YOU) that I LOVE YOU. You are a friend of mine, and if you ever need ANYTHING you let me know. I will be there for you.

<3 April