We live in the D/FW area, which means we got quite a show yesterday! We even heard, through Twitter, that Denton, a small college town to the north of Dallas, had, in order: baseball-size hail, a near-tornado, and some flash flooding.
There was a confirmed tornado in Princeton over in Collin County, and another suspected tornado in Krum. I haven’t hit the news sites yet to find out if that was confirmed or not.
As for us, we had some pretty scary moments, but we’re all okay.
We’ve had a number of troubles this year. I haven’t talked about most of them because, what’s the point? But yesterday, I saw those possible tornadoes as all the troubles we’ve been dealing with. And realized there wasn’t a thing I could do to stop any of it. The troubles/tornadoes can be somewhat planned for. But if they’re strong enough, you could end up with your home shattered to the foundation. Can’t protect against that. (It should be noted that insurance doesn’t always cover the damage and it definitely can’t bring back everything you lost.)
This made me think of Konrath’s recent thoughts on publishing and luck. It applies to more than publishing, I think. Because, if you get right down to it, most of our lives are ruled by events we can’t control. We can’t even really provide for them. I’ve known more than one person who “did everything right,” and life sent them a metaphorical tornado strong enough to wipe all that out. And I’ve seen families who did everything “wrong” and, yeah, they struggled, but they were never broken.
How often do we look at those who are struggling and say, “There but for the grace of God go I?” or something along those lines. Because that was driven home to me yesterday. All it takes in our lives is a strong enough tornado and we could lose everything. Like Konrath, you could just admit that all your hard work may not ever amount to anything simply because of bad luck, but do the best you can in spite of that to try to improve the odds. As for me, I do my best to prepare, but I also believe that, in the end, we’re in God’s hands, and whatever happens is what needed to happen. Even if that means a tornado ripping your life apart. I’ve read too many accounts of lives changed to more interesting paths by disaster to believe otherwise.
Anyway, that’s just my thoughts. Feel free to add yours.
Amy Keeley 