Rebuilding Home

Home is where you take off your shoes at night, where you go to bed at night.  According to Emily Dickinson: “Where thou art, that is home.” 

Webb City (north of Joplin) home for sale, found here.

The American Dream to most people includes owning their own home.  We are supposed to own a home in the Midwest, maybe not in New York, LA or Chicago, but in the Midwest it is expected of successful adults.  But what happens when Mother Nature shreds your home to pieces, your entire neighborhood, and most of your town, in just minutes?  The F5 tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri, on Sunday, May 22, 2011, has been heavy on our hearts.

There is horrific destruction in Joplin, but there is just as much hope in Joplin.  Here some Joplin High School trees have been carved into Eagles.  Photo by Justin Pittman, found on Facebook.  Again, Emily Dickinson illustrates with words: “Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without words, and never stops at all.”  We can all help provide hope for Joplin's students.  KY3 has details about the new "Adopt an Eagle Program" which was created to help displaced Joplin students have a backpack when s/he starts school in August.



Live - Find Rescue dog, named ChicoDog, with the handler Kathleen Kelsey; photo found here.

I drove through Joplin, about two weeks after the tornado, and until you see it with your own eyes it's hard to comprehend the intensity of the F5 tornado's destruction.  I have several friends and family that have donated their time helping out the best they can.  Those of us who can't physically donate time have donated money and essentials.  Convoy of Hope, my favorite local charity, has been a world of help for Joplin residents, as well as the Red Cross and several other not-for-profit groups and government agencies.  The Missouri National Guard has been in Joplin looking for survivors, and unfortunately finding those that did not survive, as well as providing extra security.  They have been out there in the trenches, the hot, smelly trenches.  158 confirmed lives were lost, according to the current news.  158 loved ones gone.  Our entire state, as well as Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Alabama, and probably residents from many other states have contributed to the Joplin community's aid and search & rescue.  Some locals and out of town visitors fed the surviving victims and those who did the search & rescue, some helped the surviving victims find what little possessions that were left behind.  

Map found here.

Everyone deserves praise for helping Joplin.  It may take years to rebuild Joplin, but we are determined to help our neighbors.  The historic district of Joplin, which looks similar today to the vintage postcard below, was spared by the tornado (just to the north of its path).  The schools and St. John's hospital will be rebuilt.  Brick by brick, block by block, business by business, house by house, Joplin will be rebuilt.  

Vintage postcard found here.

We are no strangers to tornadoes in southwest Missouri, but we are getting our practice taking cover this spring.  Mother Earth has been an angry force to reckon with in 2011.  We can't control the weather, but we can control how we deal with our losses and the losses of our neighbors.  Also, we can control our own homes.

Photo found here.

 I drove past this house (to the left) in Joplin and it hit me hard.  I looked at the destruction, and I felt like a higher power was protecting a large number of Joplin's population.  Houses were leveled, businesses were leveled, the hospital was totaled, and a town of around 50,000 lost 158 of its people.   158 too many, but I would of expected more lives lost.  Houses go up, and sometimes houses come tumbling down.  It may sound corny to repeat the saying "home is where the heart is" but, isn't that true?  So live it up.  Celebrate your life, celebrate your house, whether you own it or rent it, and make it a home.  I've been fortunate, I've never stayed in a shelter, but I hope if I ever do I will remember:  life will go on, and have faith it will get better.  Your old home (house) is still in your heart.  You are still alive.  You are the primary ingredient of your home.   Even if you end up in a FEMA trailer (below) for six months or longer, it will get better.  Have faith.

Photo found here.

Frederick W. Robertson summed it up here:  "Home is the one place in all this world where hearts are sure of each other.  It is the place of confidence.  It is the place where we tear off that mask of guarded and suspicious coldness which the world forces us to wear in self-defense, and where we pour out the unreserved communications of full and confiding hearts.  It is the spot where expressions of tenderness gush out without any sensation of awkwardness and without any dread of ridicule."  

So whether you live in an old farmhouse, pink Victorian house, a brick front ranch style house, a split level house, a duplex, a trailer or an apartment complex...make your house a home.  Don't feel guilty about spending money decorating your house.  It is where your heart rests.

If you must rebuild your house from a twister, hurricane, flood, wildfire or any disaster, or if you just decide to renew, repaint, remodel and/or simply give new life to a current residence, I hope you end up with a home to crow about!  Remember to pick local businesses that have been around a few years, and will continue to be here in the future, no fly by night builders need apply!


If you would like ideas and/or home decor & antiques, and/or a friendly smile, come see us at the Ozark Market Basket in Ozark, Missouri.  Need a rooster?  We have those, too; just not live roosters!