Tears for Joplin Missouri

It is crazy to shop in Joplin on Saturday and the places you shopped are gone on Sunday. I don't know what to say but to wonder if my co-workers who live there are okay. I watch TV and see pieces of familiar places but I have trouble figuring out what I am looking at. When I heard the Payless Shoe store was obliterated I knew so was my dentist office since it was a whole 20 feet from there. Oddly enough on Saturday when we drove down the streets that no longer exist. My mom said there is your dentists office. Who knew that would not be the case on Sunday. This morning my moms yard has pieces of house insulation on her lawn. We are about 20 miles away.
I live in the sleepy neighboring town where most drive daily to work in Joplin. Lucky for one of my co-workers, she moved from Joplin to Carthage on Saturday. Her father and brother drove down from Kansas City to help her move complaining all the way. The place where she lived on Saturday no longer is there. I bet her father and brother never complain about helping her move again.
A few days ago I watched in disbelief as Alabama took such a horrible hit and now I watch in disbelief as Joplin looks much the same. And when I saw the weather man Mike Bettis loose it last night as he reported on the devastation the sick feeling became very real. I imagine when I get over there in a couple weeks and see the places I used to shop it won't seem real at all. This is the main shopping for my area. I feel horrible about the economic disaster that is going to hit this area. When we see these devastation's on TV we always say the same thing. Where do you start??

I went out and took these pics about 15 minutes before Joplin was struck. I was at my parents house and my dad said we needed to come out and get some pictures of these clouds. As we looked up in disbelief my dad said Usually when you see clouds like this, it is not good. Boy was he right.