Hello friends, This will be a very lengthy message with very little Mayberry content. There's no reason to read it at all if you don't want to, but I need to get all of this into words.
As reported yesterday, our house was destroyed by the tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri. My family are all safe and in good spirits, including the dogs, but 2 of our cats are still unaccounted for. My wife and I were at home with two of our kids (the third is away at school; he graduates Saturday) when the storm hit. The local news reported a funnel a few miles away, and the sirens went off. We do not have a basement, so we grabbed the dogs, a radio, a flashlight, and our cell phones and huddled in an interior hallway. I made the kids put their shoes on first, which turned out to be a very good decision. We had not been there 30 seconds when our house was hit. There are no words to express the terror we felt. The sky went black, even though it was only about 5:30 p.m. Enormous hailstones were pounding the house, then it soon became apparent that this was a very big tornado. At some point the power failed. The noise was horrendous. Glass was flying everywhere, and I was wearing shorts so I suffered numerous cuts to my legs but nothing serious. Later I found broken glass inside my pockets. The scariest moment came when my son, who is autistic and does not speak, wandered away from the rest of us but I kept screaming his name and he soon found his way back. I guess he had tried to go get something out of his room. After what seemed like an hour but was probably only 2 or 3 minutes, it subsided. We emerged from the hallway to find that it was the only part of the house that was spared. Most of the roof and nearly all of the windows were gone. I had two rooms full of Mayberry memorabilia, and most of that was badly damaged or just gone. But that's just STUFF, and stuff is unimportant. I can always get more stuff later. Every inch of the floor was covered with broken glass. I made my way outside, where neighbors were beginning to congregate. Every house as for as you could see was demolished. Thousands upon thousands of houses and businesses, just gone. You've seen the news reports, you know what it looks like. A group of us went from door to door checking on the neighbors, and thankfully no one in the immediate area except me was even injured. My house was the best on the whole block. Most folks lost everything. Traffic was completely jammed in all directions and most of the roads were blocked; they have since been cleared, though it will be months before all the rubble can be cleared away. My wife's dad was eventually able to get to within a few blocks of our house, continuing the rest of the way on foot. We packed some clothes and hiked to his car, then finally made it to his house, which was undamaged, where we spent the night. It still has not stopped raining. We spent all day today going through the house in the pouring rain to see what we could save. Friends from church, an old college buddy, and my sister and nephew came to help. The kids' rooms were not damaged except for a bit of water leaking through the ceiling. We got several carloads of stuff to my inlaws' house. We saved our computers (but not the chargers), important papers, and most of our clothes, photo albums, DVDs, and most of my daughter's books and toys. We got a lot of the furniture moved out, and moved much of the rest of it into the part of the house that was still dry. We have three pianos (that's my business), two large grands and one large old upright. Except for the finish they are undamaged but I don't know how we'll ever get them out. Every interior door in the house was blown off its hinges, so we nailed these up over some of the broken windows, and got tarps up over the rest. The rain has still not stopped, and I will not be surprised if tomorrow or Wednesday (what day is it, anyway?) the rest of the roof caves in. Our garage fared much better, the two cars inside were not damaged at all (we got both of them out today), and the rear hatch of the Cherokee on the carport is smashed in, but it is still driveable. We are now at my parents' house in Neosho, MO, which is about 20 miles south of Joplin. We will probably stay here for the next few weeks. My wife's workplace (General Mills) was not damaged, so she still has her job, and all of my piano tools were in my van so I can still work too, eventually. Very few phone calls are getting through, but I've received many emails and text messages from my friends in Mayberry and beyond. Once again, we are all safe and in good spirits. Thanks so much to everyone who was been praying for us. We hope you will continue to do so, or if you're not the praying type, then as Barney says "keep a good thought." Sincerely, Paul Mulik Sent from my U.S. Cellular BlackBerry® smartphone _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
