As my husband and I were driving we were talking and just being us... we neared downtown and started to see debris on the side of the road- our babble quickly stopped. All the sudden there was nothing but rubble. We just kind of stared at eachother. It was unbelieveable ...did this really happen are we really seeing this? We turned down the road that used to house a sweet little neighborhood and St johns hospital. It was reduced to nothingness... trees stripped of leaves and bark..foundations left amongst piles of siding and debris. A few things stood out more than others- there was a foundation- everything around it gone and on what would have been the middle of the house- a closet still full of what looked like freshly hung clothes- how is this possible!? An office building reduced to concrete blocks with a single office chair- a bent flagpole with a naked tree beside it. People writing their names and phone numbers on broken siding and windows saying papa and gma are ok!Childrens toys were spread everywhere- there were still, 4 weeks later clothes in trees..it was truely unbelieveable! UNIMAGINABLE! After being there awhile we decided we needed a break from the heartstrings being pulled so we went to a local flea market downtown that barely missed the chaos of that night.I thought how great its nice to be able to put something back by shopping locally. What I thought would be a nice break turned into anything but that.. as we made our first purchase all I could think about was.. did this lady lose everything she had besides this stuff? did she lose family? friends? We continued on for a good part of the day. Before we left I snapped some pictures- 60 miles from our house this town was invaded! Joplin I am still praying for you and you will rebuild!
