Hold Up

Chapter 3: First, the Royal Wedding, then Tornado Updates

It was one of those times in life that I knew would eventually become a memory I would never forget. It was a defining moment in my life but until now, I didn't know why. 

The weekend began with the excitement of what Kate Middleton's dress would look like and talk of who was supposedly invited to the blessed event of the royal wedding. Yes, we all know there are more royal members out there besides Prince William and Prince Harry, but come on. This was the big one and a treat for almost every woman in a developed country to be alive and watch on TV. If you were in college at the time, like I was then your mom got to experience the last big kahuna, the wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles. You had always heard how classic and kind she was as well as a fashion trend setter. So, Kate Middleton became my Diana. I pinned pictures of her perfect hair and read anything written about her on E! news. I even convinced myself I had a chance with Prince Harry because there was a photo of Kate circulating the internet of her in her early college days looking healthy and beautiful. She is now, of course still beautiful but half the size. I thought, "Wow. She used to be a normal size like me! Maybe I do have a chance." Ha. This was, I'm sure, about a thousand other girls' response after seeing the popular photo. So, I obsessed over Kate Middleton as did most red-blooded American girls and I assume British girls. 

That Thursday night I was watching TV in my dorm room on the fourth of nine floors of Brumby Hall at the University of Georgia when a tornado warning screamed at me from my phone and TV. I changed the channel from probably an old Jersey Shore episode to the weather channel and became suddenly interested. There was a deadly storm happening in north Georgia. Some sort of alarm went off in our dorm and as we all greeted each other in the hall with confusion, our RA told us to go to the elevator lobby. The storm was apparently in our area and a tornado had been sighted. We waited there bored for an hour until we never heard anything else from our RA telling us to remain in the windowless, wifi dead zone.

When I got back to my room, my sister texted me. She said it was storming bad at home and my new puppy was so scared. I worried for him but beyond worrying for his worry of his first storm, I was still more excited about the royal wedding. My sister continued texting me which was unusual for this part of our lives. We normally hated communicating with each other or anyone else in our family. She kept updating me that the storm was so loud and she swore she thought the house shook. I asked where dad was and he of course was passed out in his room from a not responsible night of drinking. My sister brought in our family dog and her dogs to the basement with her. So, her and four dogs laid awake listening to the horror that would be found in the morning. 

I texted her the next morning to find that she still hadn't left the basement and was clearly scared but never said she was even though she texted me, which she normally would not do. She found it humorous that my puppy pooped from fright even though it was on her bed. Nothing happened to her or the dogs so I focused all my attention on the royal wedding. It was beautiful and classy. Later I remember seeing my RA come back from a royal wedding viewing party dressed like she was headed to the Kentucky Derby. 

I waited for my boyfriend to finish class and then we headed home for the weekend. Like I said, this weekend was remembered and it's already been seven years and I am recalling every detail. But, the memory that sticks out the most was this: I was talking on the phone with my aunt telling her my dad was passed out again and was frustrated by his alcoholism when we pulled up to my driveway. I stopped talking. Out of no where, I started crying. Not just tears coming down my cheeks, but ugly crying. My aunt could tell and said, "Hannah, I'm so sorry." I mumbled something about my room being gone. I was shocked by the massive hole in our house. I looked to the left and my neighbor's house was completely crushed. Debris was everywhere. People were all over the road looking for things. Trees were hacked into pieces. The fort with swings my dad built for us was a pile of planks. Most of the massive evergreen trees my dad planted years before and made me pick tree-killing worms off of one Saturday were all down. 

I couldn't identify the feeling then, but now I know my heart was broken. My childhood home was broken just like it really was inside. The way the land and house looked that day was exactly what our family had become. It was now exposed to the world as if they didn't already know. The hole in my house which happened to be the attic and most of my bedroom was too symbolic of the hole in my life and heart. Ever since my mom died three years earlier my dad became an angry alcoholic and has still never recovered. I was so angry that he slept through that tornado as my sister brought in the dogs to the basement and was awake for the entire life changing event. 

This memory was tragic and sad to look at but it is defining because I now think it was the end of my childhood. I never slept in my bedroom again. I never swung on those swings again. And the memories I had of growing up there when things were normal would always only be memories. Hardly any more memories were made at that house for my family and the ones that were made were dark and of broken, unhappy people. 

Of this weekend's turn of events, I do remember my friend complaining. She complained that all the news headlines were about the royal wedding and not of the thousands that lost their homes or of the lives that were lost. And my heart broke just a little bit more.