It was a beautiful Wednesday morning. The lustrous, yellow sun shone down upon the great state of Kansas. The great plains ran as far as the eye can see. The birds were chirping happily in the safety of their nests.

Everyone went on with their daily lives on this morning. This was until the sky became dark. Clouds as dark as night started to roll in. A wind blew from North to South. The wind started to pick up. It blew faster and faster. A drop of water hit the ground. It started to hit the ground at a faster pace. Eventually,  Hail, the size of tennis balls smacking the ground. Suddenly there was a blinding flash and a blazing fire broke out. The great force of the wind started to spread the fire. The fire started to spread like fleas. There was a great BOOM and everything started to shake. Tornado. There was a tornado!

Everything clattered against one another. Things were falling left and right, dishes, books, plants. It was chaos. You ran to the cellar door holding on to your most prized possession, your childhood stuffed animal. You hopped in with the rest of your family and held on to your stuffed animal for dear life.  Listening to the roaring wind and thunder you closed your eyes and started to pray. You prayed and prayed and prayed. Then everything stopped. It was quiet. You and your family waited in the cellar for a little while longer. One by one you and your family slowly started to climb out of the cellar.

When you got outside you couldn’t believe your eyes.

It was gone, all gone. Your home. You grew up there. You had your first steps there. You had your first words there. All of those memories, just gone. It was just a big heap of wood and brick. You were in shock. No words, no actions. Nothing. You just stood there in front of the one place you had felt safe. Now, everything had changed.