A Day I Never Forgot

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Have you ever experienced a day that you would love to forget? But you are so afraid that you might one day actually forget. And you really would never want to forget because the memories that you have are so important. They are the memories of family that help you to cope with daily life, and no matter how hard it is to remember, it is even harder to fathom the horrors of forgetting. I experienced that day at the age of twenty-nine; it was April 27, 2011. Meteorologists had been forecasting an outbreak of tornadoes. In fact the earliest storm to hit Cullman County, Alabama that morning, at around 5:30 a.m., did damage at my cousin Stephanie’s house. At the time I worked for Walker Brothers, LTD., a building supply, in Baileyton, Alabama. We were busy helping people who were repairing damage at their houses, but we were also keeping an eye on the weather. I was beginning to think that the meteorologists had missed the forecast; it really was a calm, quiet day. It was not anything like most storms in the South. Most stormy days in the South involve rain, wind, or, at the very least, clouds, but this day really did not have any of those things. And then it happened. The outbreak began; between 2:30 and 3:00 p.m. a tornado touched down, and it was in Cullman, Alabama. We were at work watching the computers; one group was watching the video of the tornado in Cullman on one channel; another group was watching the radar to see where the tornado was going. We watched the tornado destroy building in Cullman that we knew well—the First Baptist Church, the Cullman County Courthouse, and countless stores. At around 3:15 or so, Tim, one of my bosses, said, “This is ridiculous. Everyone get to the basement across the road now. It’s coming here.” So we went to the basement, but no one got in it. Instead we stood outside taking pictures and videoing the

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