#2,587 Shelter + Shad’s Wedding.

Early this morning we were woken by tornado warning sirens wailing, our phones lighting up with worried messages from our family–all of us checking on one another, strategizing the safest place to go if the little blue cell on the TV screen turned toward us. We were spared once again, but Hattiesburg  was devastated again by massive tornadoes, along with Petal, a town between us. It’s heartbreaking to see the damage it’s done, and while I’m so grateful for the shelter from the storms last night, I can’t stop thinking of those people who did not have the same morning we did. Mississippians and other rural places like ours know what to do in these situations and they do it very well, with love. Cartoonist Marshall Ramsey says it best:

We gave a roll of plastic sheeting and roofing nails to the family of our friends who lost their home, but it’s not a drop in the bucket of what needs to be done. 

On the upside, we got to spend tonight in New Orleans celebrating my dear old friend Shad, who married the love of his life.

We cared for each other like silly, SNL-loving, musical, soccer-playing siblings growing up and in high school. I’m so happy for him, finding Rina, the girl who makes him feel loved and known. 

We made new friends:

And caught up with our dear friends and neighbors:

And I fell in love all over again with this handsome tuxedoed man:

And tonight central Mississippi is facing more intense storms passing through. If you’re the praying kind, I know the good folks in the path of it would appreciate your prayers.