A little bit of magic...a whole lotta love!!

One of the most beautiful things about this weekend was the wedding of my friend Scott Murray to the lovely Jennifer Greer. I've known Scott since college and I was honored when he asked me to photograph his wedding.

With all of the stress and craziness of the past few weeks, I was a little worried about my photography skills...and my passion for photographing something so huge and important--weddings are stressful--especially for the photographer. I just didn't know if I would be able to convey the beauty and happiness and do it justice...too much on my mind....

Once I saw the amazing tree-lined pathway to the wedding ceremony location had been filled with twirling white hearts....my own heart skipped a beat...and I got really excited to take some beautiful, magical photos.

I pushed aside all the fear and stress and I just tried to be patient, and shoot.

Here is a sneak peek of the photos from Saturday. These are a few of my favorite photos.

Jen's relationship with her parents is so beautiful....I could not stop taking pictures of their love...it was so moving.

I had a unique aerial view of Scott and Jen's first sight of each other before the wedding.

Scott is an artist...and Jen is a stylist...they have the most amazing style...they both looked stunning!

Congratulations to the happy couple!! I wish you both all the best!

Thank you for sharing your special day with me!

Destruction in the Heartland....part 6...Friday June 3rd....Did this REALLY happen?

Everything isn't happy and rosy and perfect 100% of the time in blogland people.

I am going to write a few more posts about the Joplin Tornado....if you don't want to read, I completely understand. It is depressing. This Little Blog of Mine will return to school stories and posts about pretty things soon...but for now, I just need to write.

I just keep thinking about all the places in town that got blown away. Literally. There is nothing left. I've been in denial--like a lot of people--but the REAL is finally setting in....

This really happened.

Our town REALLY got destroyed by a massive tornado.

For REAL.

Joplin was on CNN. I saw Anderson Cooper in front of St. Mary's. THE PRESIDENT GAVE A SPEECH AT MY UNIVERSITY!

For REAL.

Many of the places on this list hold many fond memories for me.... I wanted to compile them here to reminisce....

Pizza by Stout-- When I was in college, my Art League group met there every single week--either on the patio or in the glass room on the front to talk about art.

When I graduated from college, my entire family went there for lunch.

When my dad turned 50, we gathered everyone into the party room, got a KC Chiefs cake and celebrated together.

Cupcakes by Liz--This was a new business, but it was one of my favorite places in town. It was perfect for a girls night out--the cupcakes were delicious, the atmosphere was delightful and I would recommend it to everyone for a perfect date night MUST.

Frank's Lounge and Murphy's Irish Pub--Practically the only places in town to do Karaoke. Both gone. I've had many fun nights with friends, singing and celebrating various graduations, birthdays and St. Patrick's days.

Macadoodles, Academy, Aldis, Dillons---When you lose your neighborhood grocery store, favorite liquor store (with discounted fuel once a week), and sporting goods store in one shot---its hard to figure out where you will buy things that you are used to having access to. I visited all of these businesses nearly every week. Gone.

Salvation Army, Good Will---I love to go thrift shopping for clothing, random household collectibles and vintage sheets. Good Will is badly damaged and the Salvation Army moved to its new location just a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't even had a chance to visit yet! I doubt they will remodel renovated grocery store---it will probably just be torn down now.

St. John's Hospital-- I think my doctor's office is still in tact, as it was located in a separate location....but the skeleton building that remains is just depressing and haunting to drive past. My insurance is through St. John's and my mom always stays there when she is sick or needs to have a surgery.

Elec Tric Art--A local tattoo place...my friend Dennis has tattooed many of my friends and family at that location.....now it is gone.

Jo-Ann's Fabric, Home Depot, Wal-Mart-- Wal-Mart?!?! I do not even know what to say....these are staples in my life--buying everything from lumber to sewing machine grease---at these now-gone locations.

iHOP, Taco Bell, McDonald's, Chick Fil-A, Arby's, KFC, Cherry Berry-- These are just a few of the fast food places that were damaged or destroyed. (Luckily Orange Leaf is okay---we got two new frozen yogurt places in the last month--after never having any FROYO in Joplin before. I was seriously OVERJOYED when I found out that Orange Leaf made it through the storm!


Cunningham Park, Par Hill Park, Huge parkway near Murphy BLVD--These parks used to have playground equipment, huge green trees, and they were beautiful places to spend an afternoon on a quilt, in the shade. Now they are just barren eyesores.

Most of these places will probably rebuild...but some of them will not. Joplin is such a different place to live now.

It looks different.

It feels different.

The people look different.

It is different.

The scariest part for me isn't that the businesses below are gone...its that we are not safe in our own homes. 

I've never been afraid of storms before...and many people here never took tornado warnings seriously, we have so many 'watches' and 'warnings' when spring storms roll through...we all take those things for granted.

People in Joplin have experienced loss...and devastation....and fear....

Many people were injured...many people know someone that died in the tornado...everyone knows someone that lost their home....

Friends at work ask me about my family and home....and when I tell them that my mom lost her home, I get a variety of responses depending on how far removed they are from what happened. Some are completely sympathetic...some are bracing for the worst...and some are just asking to be nice....

The co-workers that live in Joplin, or who have volunteered cleaning up debris, or the co-workers that are sharing their home with a family that is displaced...those co-workers get it....this storm 'happened' to them too....but unless you've driven through the devastation, or lost your neighborhood, or neighbor, or neighborhood grocery store, it is hard to grasp how difficult this tragedy is.

So, readers....I am very grateful to have my house....Joplin is my home and I am very proud of the city for how it managed to crisis and I am still dealing with how REAL everything is.


P.S. I think I have a home for my mom...in a nearby city...it is very similar to where she was living before the tornado took her home. If all goes well, she can move in next Friday.

Photo Collage Friday. {Number Seven}

Around the house.

In the wake of the Joplin Tornado disaster in Joplin, I am thankful for a house to come home to....dirty dishes in the sink, a screen porch, and a fridge full of magnets.

So many people in my city are homeless.

So many people have spent the last 2 weeks searching through rubble for their belongings.

I have spent the last two weeks desperately searching for a home for my mom.

I haven't had a lot of free time recently to hang out at home....between school and trying to help my mom, things have been super crazy.

Here are a few recent shots from around my house.

By the way, today is my LAST day of school....Happy summer...thanks for reading!

Photo Collage Friday. {Number Six}

This is an actual mural at my school. I thought it fit the criteria of being a 'photo collage' without much editing.

The school year is almost over! I am so excited for summer, but so sad to take this beautiful work of art down. It has been up since after Valentine's Day....it makes the hallway feel like an art gallery.

Destruction in the Heartland....part 5...Thursday May 26th: Reflection

At school today, I played a few rounds of Apples to Apples Jr. with my students and found that my responses to the green cards were much more tailored to my emotions when connecting things like 'Neighbors' and 'Brave' or 'Valuable' with 'My Town'....

Normally I would have played 'Rain' for 'Calm' but today, I was very cautious about playing words like "rain" "thunder" or even 'wind' for fear that it might trigger a story or reaction from my students---the game was a much needed distraction for all of us. 

Reality still hasn't sunk in for me yet. It seems completely unreal that my grocery store, Taco Bell, pizza place, cupcake boutique and countless other favorite, familiar places in Joplin are completely gone.

'Familiar'-- 'Damage'

Driving around this evening, watching the destruction fade from bad to worse from one block to another. Green neighborhoods with tall oak trees, full of leaves suddenly give way to gnarled, broken, charred, twisted tan and brown exposed wood.

Cases of bottled water sit on every corner, stacks of 24 packs are piled high in parking lots--free to anyone that needs  a drink.

Orange and yellow neon vests of workers can be spotted all over town.

Police uniforms and vehicles from 40+ miles away patrol the streets.

Counting my blessings that the 32nd street hill created a bit of a wind block for my own home, with only a few leaves and limbs in the yard, I don't have any broken glass or wood to clean. My belongings are not covered in wet, disgusting yellow insulation, my treasured possessions are not scattered across the city.

'Blessing'--'My Bed'

In some places, it doesn't even appear that a house or structure could have ever stood there, completely flattened. Seeing photos or even video is nothing like seeing it stretch on for miles in person. The scope of the destruction and the scale from eye level is so devastating, and heart wrenching. The unfamiliar landscape of a war zone, in the heart of our city.

Cars have been scattered, shattered and shredded, flung into trees and homes, piled on top of each other. Sheets of metal indicate the direction of the wind as they stretch like pulled taffy around tree trunks and snapped telephone poles. 

Apart from Rangeline on a Friday night, I've never been stuck in traffic in Joplin...but today, it was difficult to get across town without getting stuck behind blocks and blocks of crawling vehicles--arms extended from the windows holding digital cameras, waiting for a traffic cop to wave us through an intersection.

While the sounds of sirens have faded significantly since Monday, chainsaws rip through trees on every street--a mechanical removal of limbs and branches. Large machinery and trucks are parked on various street corners, the hum of the trucks and the beep of the buckets as they transport workers trying to restore traffic lights.

The smell in the streets is familiar--the musty smell of an old attic--a little damp....old wood....musty boxes full of winter clothes....a touch of mold....I fear that warmer temperatures in the next few days will kick up the smell of mold, and sour, wet fabric making it unbearable for workers and families to collect anything of value from their demolished homes. 

'Stench'--'Home'


Yesterday was rough. I had to grab lunch with a friend because I didn't have time to pack one--when I walked in to Culver's in Webb City, I recognized a friend from college...and gave him a huge hug.

A few minutes later, I gave his fiance a tearful embrace as well. This sweet couple is getting married a week from Saturday--their house is okay, but many people in their family lost their homes--an unbelievable emotional burden for such a beautiful family celebration coming up.  I am supposed to take their pictures...

After school, I took a much needed 3-hour nap. I have had a stress-tired-stress headache for the last 3 days and getting some rest helped tremendously.  Sometimes I find myself crying, while listening to the coverage on the radio...not for what has been lost...but for the outpouring of love and support in the community.

'Amazing'--'Strangers'

After another stop by mom's yesterday evening, I went to Wal-Mart to get my mom a pre-paid cell phone so that she could have contact with her family and friends....I had the overwhelming urge to hug strangers. To just wrap up anyone who looked tired, or sad or empty.

People keep asking me how my mom is.....sometimes I hear her crying.

She is alive, but she had so little before the tornado took everything, it is difficult to cast out the thoughts of 'those things are replaceable' when they really might not be---little things like her T.V., towels, wind chimes, picture frames, and curtains--those are not available at donation centers and will be difficult to recover after sitting in puddles of water under piles of wet wood and debris.

Also, I spilled a big bag of dog food in her kitchen...It sits in a heap, wet, soggy, stinking.

Since Sunday, I have been obsessed with the radio, internet, FB and T.V. footage of the disaster, but I am nearly ready for some distraction. Maybe if I don't let it sink in, it won't be real. Maybe if I don't look around or think about the 'deadly' 'wind', it can't hurt me.

As much as I am ready for my life to return to normal, I think it will be harder to face the devastation when the sounds of the chain saws stop, the sight of workers and police, and the piles of water are gone, and the empty, quiet darkness sets in.

Right now the city is a bustle of people and traffic from surrounding areas scurrying to help recover missing people and possessions...but when they all go home, and the utilities are restored to the houses that remain, and the radio starts playing music again....that is when reality will set in....that is when the dark, bitter landscape of our forever changed city will become the new familiar site--in place of the beauty of the green oaks, the painted shutters, and the un-torn, un-tattered American flags that used to hang on porches from poles instead of bark-stripped limbs.

'Ugly'--'Landscape'

A beautiful post....

By my friend Whitney.....read it here.


And a letter from Tuscaloosa. Read it here.

More later.....xxxx

Destruction in the Heartland....part 4...Tuesday May 24th: Timeline

Today was not a picturesque as yesterday, I just really wanted to write this play-by-play down...it will be a blur later....it seems like it is important to record this information, in order to reflect, 

4:50 Wake up, send updates and check facebook.
5:30 Get up and get dressed.
6:45 Leave Julies, drive to my house.
7:00 Arrive at mom's demolished apartment. Load keepsakes, some clothes and other things of importance.
7:40 Arrive at my house, unload most of mom's belongings.
8:25 Drive to Webb City, Mo--drop of mom's prescription order for antibiotics to fight infection in her wound and a few other prescriptions that were lost in the storm
8:40 Arrive at Leslie's--drop mom off, get her settled
9:00 Arrive at Carterville Elementary. Start spreading my brother's baby book pages, keepsakes, and wet photos on the floor and in the drying rack in my classroom.
9:15 2nd grade class--(Student Quotes: "Did you know anyone that was hurt or killed in the tornado?")
10:20 3rd Grade Class--(Student quotes: "Mrs. Mitchell, you look like you've been crying")
11:20 Leave school, drive to the drug store (Gray Jet flies overhead--Wonder, is that airforce1? --it is not, president is coming Sunday)
11:45 Arrive at Leslie's give mom her medicine, check on her--she is in good spirits, she has been using their phone to make calls to family and friends. Today is my Grandma's birthday!
12:00 Arrive back at school, post photos and blog writings
12:15 1st Grade Class (Student Quotes: "Mrs. Mitchell, you look different"....Well, I am different--no makeup, jeans, discheveled hair full of insulation, tired puffy eyes)
12:40 Shaina brings me a chilli dog, coke and tots (Thank you Shaina, I was running on fuel from a few chocolate Donettes from 6:20am!)
1:00 Dr. Storm helps me find some crutches for my mom.
1:20 3rd grade class (Its the last week of art for many of my classes--I put out games
2:20 Leave school as soon as class walks out
2:35 Pick up mom--carefully getting her down the stairs at Leslie's with new crutches.
3:35 Arrive in Miami, OK--My aunt Tara met us to re-dress mom's wound, evaluate and assess her health (my mom has seizures, blood pressure issues, and occasionally requires oxygen)
4:35 Drive back to Joplin, drop mom off at my house, get her settled--start washing some of her things--move some furniture to make her more comfortable
5:30 Drive to Kristy's house. In AWE of the police command center a few blocks from my house--hundreds of police cars and officers, national guard vehicles.
5:45 Load a full sized bed and mattress for my mom from Kristy's shed. Listen to her recount her story from Sunday--she went to St. John's immediately after storm (she is a nurse, she works there), only realizes it has been hit when she pulls up--starts moving patients down the 7 flights of stairs on mattresses, blankets, sleds, chairs, and wheelchairs in the pitch black building. Quote: "I just kept thinking that was what it must have felt like in the Twin Towers"
6:00 Drive to mom's apartment to collect some more things: towels, first aid gear, oxygen tanks, find a wheelchair near the nursing home, 'borrow' for mom (I promise to return it when mom is off crutches-- there were a dozen sitting in the open) Roadblocks up all over town. Saw Anderson Cooper near St. Mary's Church. Still chuckling about wrecked cars as we pass them--a CNN reporter said that vehicles were literally 'balls of steel'.....so now when we see a crumpled car....we laugh about how Joplin has huge Balls of Steel!
6:45 Arrive at my house, unload the bed and things recovered from mom's (including a ceramic antique family Heirloom Christmas tree)
7:00 Drive to Julies to get some things left behind this morning--including all the food from my fridge that she was keeping cold for me
7:30 Drive to grocery store to buy fresh food--some things were spoiled--needed fresh bread, milk, essentials
8:15 Drive home (Before 9:00 city-wide curfew)
8:45 Groceries unloaded, clean insulation from kitchen counters from some things from mom's house
9:00 Eat a ham sandwich (watch some Tosh.0)
9:20 Take a shower. Standing naked--washing hair--tornado sirens start going off!! WTF??!!! totally my worst nightmare--naked and my house blows away!
9:30 Dressed, gathering flashlights, first aid kit, cleaning wheel chair in case we need to get mom out of here, plugging in the radio to listen for updates (need some 'c' batteries!!!!)
10:00 Listening to the storm get stronger, watching lightening, listening to the radio for updates. We still have power, internet, and cell reception.
11:00 Still awake, fielding phone calls and texts, facebook updates, writing this.
12:00 Plan to sleep in my own bed.

Thanks for reading. More soon.

Before and after photos of Joplin

See some more before and after shots of my town here.

The St. Mary's school in the areal view is the Church with only a cross still standing near my mom's house.

People from Joplin: if you stand at the Plaza Apartments, you can see all the way to St. John's Hospital. So much devastation.

Destruction in the Heartland....part 3...Photos of the May 22nd Tornado in Joplin

Here are some photos. I posted many of these on Facebook, but some are new. I will try to post some videos soon.

Mom's apartment. 

 Apartment directly across from mom's house.

 Mom's front yard, with view of St. Mary's Catholic Church.

 This is my mom's front door, she was pinned behind it while immediately after the tornado hit. She tried to close, but it would not shut.

 View of mom's apartment from sidewalk on Moffet street.

 St. Mary's Catholic church.

 More of mom's apartment complex. In the far distance, you can see the top of St. John's hospital.

 Another view of St. Mary's.

 Very scary post-tornado clouds.

 House burning on Moffet St. Road is totally blocked with debris.

 Another view of St. Mary's.

 Accidental 'tornado' photo while running!

 Wheeling my mom to a triage unit in a parking lot near a destroyed nursing home. This is the corner of 26th and moffet.

 Not even an exclamation point for my phone service/messages. phone is searching. searching. searching.

 Skyline of St. John's Monday morning.

 Close up from photo above.

 This is the garden, recently planted behind my house. Somehow, that spinning flower ornament made it!

 Neighbor's house across the street from mine. Some tree limbs in yard.

 Looking south on Oakridge, right in front of my house. Limbs down.

 Such a relief to come home to a house that is still standing. I left my closet light on---electricity has been restored. Monday afternoon. The tornado was 24 hours ago. I live 1.5 blocks from extreme devastation.

 5:00 pm Monday, flood waters rising south of town. (Tuesday morning, the roadway I am stopped on is impassible after Monday's rains)

 

Tuesday morning. Mom's apartment. 

 Living room and kitchen.

 She is lucky to have some walls standing. No roof, very wet, but we were able to save some stuff.

 her Bedroom.

 Saving some keepsakes.

 View from back window.

 Floor in spare bedroom. Insulation everywhere.

 This is where the mobile triage unit was set up. Victims from the nursing home were on these mattresses.

 26th and moffet, you can see St. John's in the distance.

 Electrical sub station.

 Irving elementary on 26th st.

 26th street, looking towards main....you can see J-Town and taco bell...sort of.

 Cars have been turned into 'balls of steel' according to one CNN reporter.