March 12.....

........a date most people in Monroe City will not forget anytime soon. WOW......it's been 2 years since the horrendous tornado ripped thru a portion of our town. Am and I were home.....not knowing what had taken place. We knew the weather was bad - as it had been for several hours. We were tuned into KRES Radio out of Moberly (the best weather coverage in the area) We were watching the sky - well Am was - the best we could since it was dark out. I know we were ready to head to the basement at one point just in case but no need. LORRRRD - if we only knew. It was only AFTER the hit that we knew. People call in and report what they are seeing and what has happened during/after any storm. When someone called and reported the Baptist church being collapsed in Monroe we were like "ohhh right. It's some moron playing a joke". We really didn't believe it to be honest with you. THEN when Mayor Browning called in and reported the situation we were like OHHH MYYYY GODDDDD. What a night. The tornado hit town around 10 or so...... and so we were too hyped up to go to bed. We laid there in bed listening to the radio (after we finally turned off the tv coverage) Seeing what we saw on TV was incredible. I know I was still wide awake at 2:30. We didn't know if we needed to go to work or anything. Am went ahead and got up at 5 and went to work and was to call me when he got to town. After going thru the "barracade" at the end of any entrance to town and telling them he worked at Intermet, he was let thru. He called and told me that everything at work seemed fine but that town was a mess. I really didn't even want to go to town. But let me just tell you that I've never had such an eerie feeling running thru my body as that day........it was just weird. Anyhow....recovery progress has been good. The only real thing that hasn't rebuilt is the Baptist Church. They are to be making plans for the building planning later this year if I understood an article in the Hannibal paper yesterday. Here is a short slide show of some pictures that a friend of my took. May this March 12th be calm and collected!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!