Yesterday still doesn't seem real.
Sunday night I was busy packing my room, on my last night of duty at the University of Oklahoma, when the tornado sirens went off and we retreated to the basement. I've taken cover a number of times while at school, but after a number of minutes, we go back to what we were doing. If you're from Oklahoma, I think you're accustomed to the tornado threats, you do what you have to do, then go on with your life.
Monday morning we loaded the U-Haul and around noon, got on the road and headed back to Texas. After 7 years, I was leaving OU, and Oklahoma, for a long while. Amidst chatting with my dad, I was flipping through my twitter feed and saw that people were starting to take cover. I thought, hear we go again, business as usual. Following the #okwx hashtag, I read about the tornado starting in Newcastle, but it was not until I saw the pictures from the televised broadcast that I started to think - to realize - this time was different.
My mom got home before we did and kept us posted. Though all was safe in Norman, it is still incredibly hard for me to grasp what has happened in Moore. As the coverage has exponentially grown within the past 24 hours, I still can't fathom what the community is going through.
It is indescribably amazing how much the state of Oklahoma has come together to support those who lost the most. This more than anything has drove home the impact of service - regardless of what your life path is, there is a way to give back. From universities in the area opening up their housing facilities to displaced families, to churches and other organizations gathering items for donations, to companies donating products like shoes and meals to those affected, to local celebrities donating and visiting, to citizens donating blood, and most of all, to those volunteers and first-line responders out in the area helping sort through the rubble and recover who and what they can find.
The most painstaking fact of the whole catastrophe though is knowing that in some ways, it all will never be enough. There were things, and memories, and people lost, and nothing will ever ever make up for that. This tornado will leave an impact on so many lives, and it will be hard to move forward. But, in my time as a temporary-Oklahoman, if there is anything that I have learned it is that Okies are of the most resilient people I have ever met. Every year my feed would fill with encouraging words from the brave people who endured a similar tragedy in 1999, as well as the Oklahoma City bombing. Brave Oklahoman people who can and will rebuild, but will never forget.
May God bless Oklahoma and its sincere, hardworking, community-loving folk. Please keep them in your prayers and help where possible.
.:edit:.
And many times this does not get said, but thank you to all those working in meteorology and news for your continual work to keep people aware and safe! You help save many lives and I appreciate your dedication to your field and the public.
[Please feel free to provide any helpful volunteer sites/opportunities in the comment section]
