From the Rubble and Ashes...

Francie and I finally made the trek to Tuscaloosa on Sunday. She and Heidi have wanted to go since the moment after the tornado left Tuscaloosa. Heidi was busy with law school stuff, so she couldn't go...but she'll go soon.

I drove while Francie looked and took some pictures. "Oh my God," she said over and over. "I don't know where I am."

We took a couple of wrong turns simply because there were no familiar landmarks. Much like Cullman, beautiful old tree-lined streets are no longer tree-lined or beautiful. Even after more than a month, abandoned cars litter parking lots or are barely visible under piles of rubble and ash.

Sometimes change is like that. Sometimes the only things left after upheaval and change are rubble and ashes. Francie reminded me that Tuscaloosa was home to her and Heidi for four years. It was their town, and they loved being there. They liked to take me where they shopped and ate, and they liked to point out where this happened or that happened...where they all gathered after a ballgame...where they sat in the Ferg. It was their town for four years. Then things changed. They moved on. Heidi just finished second year law school; Francie starts law school in August. Positive change...forward movement. Tuscaloosa was still there - in their memories, but so much fun to visit and so filled with good memories. So even though they have moved on and changed, Tuscaloosa was there.

So, I understand Francie's sadness at seeing the change that happened in the blink of an eye in Tuscaloosa. Homes were lost, businesses destroyed...people died. And maybe the scariest part of change is the loss of familiarity.

But the human spirit is amazing. People volunteered and are still volunteering. In other parts of town, on a hot summer Sunday afternoon, life goes on. Restaurants were open, people were jogging, and high school boys in town for football camp were getting their pictures made with the new Nick Saban statue (so was Francie). So out of the rubble and ashes Change already has taken control of the situation. Life goes on.