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When I remember the day of the tornado, the most overwhelming memory
is that I realised that day could have
a very different ending for us.
The noise and the sight of the iron roofings swelling in that dirty twister
remained with me,
as well as the silliness I felt yelling
that a mini tornado was coming.
We live in Australia
I don't think we have enough time to get scared
but I do remember thinking that we had too many glass windows around our house
in choosing a good place to hide
was not easy.
I am so relieved that nothing big hit
or came crashing through our house in the few seconds the tornado seem to be on us.
I'd just knew
that the four of us were ok,
and that was all that matters at that moment.
The sight of our neighbourhood,
missing roofs,
broken windows,
fallen walls
and the utter mess in our backyard is just unbelievable.
I called out two sons in Brisbane.
I wanted to make sure they knew we were safe.
Their initial nonchalance was replaced with concern as soon as they saw the
images on the internet.
We took photos because this was our history.
All our boys were borned
and raised here.
This was their town.
I looked back on those photos and they do not give a true indication
of the feeling of devastation.
It was very late in the night before I realized I have not asked my
boys how they were.
We were alive
I'd just knew we were alright.
Nothing else was important.
Our sons had to come home the next day.
I felt that they needed to touched his family again.
Since then,
the feelings of relieved had been followed
with feelings of frustration and loss of control.
Dealing with the many people involved in the insurance process
has been at times confusing and tedious.
I am pleased I'm young enough to deal with all that has thrown up at us.
It's amazing that three months on,
there is still many people out of their homes.
We were one of the lucky ones.
Our lives had not been greatly derailed by the tornado.
Recently a friend asked a group of us if anyone has any good news.
My reply,
we had a tornado come and we survived.
What else matters?