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Surrounded by tributes and memorials, people in Tuscaloosa, and throughout most of Alabama, can’t help but experience the full spectrum of emotions today.
Tuscaloosa after the April 27 tornado.
Grief. Hope.
Sorrow. Resolve.
Pain. Pride.
The list goes on, as no one seems to know exactly what he or she is supposed to feel, just that they do. From what was lost to what we’ve gained, it’s all essentially beyond anyone’s comprehension, never mind simply how much everything has changed.
It’s April 27th, and on this date a year ago at approximately 5 p.m. the massive tornado ripped through the community and put a hole in everyone’s hearts – one that will continue to be felt for a long, long time.
To mark the anniversary, we do what we can: Remember and honor, but not relive. As for reminders, they’re really not needed because they remain a part of everyday life.
“Shock,” Crimson Tide men’s basketball coach Anthony Grant said about his initial reaction to the gut-wrenching damage that is still being cleaned up.
“You drive down two blocks and it’s like a bomb exploded.”
Nowhere is a better example of that contrast than Alberta City where the Winn-Dixie grocery store was left relatively unscathed, yet across the pavement the elementary school was completely obliterated.
The same can easily be found in Holt, where Project Team Up, the organization Nick and Terry Saban helped create, is helping redevelop a neighborhood. Six houses, some with yards full of flowers and children’s toys, appear to have been finished, with two more around the corner near completion. Yet in the middle of the block remains a crumbling structure that has yet to be cleared, and the house with the massive tree on top of it is still impossible to miss along the turn to the major road.
Today, Carson Tinker will attend the ceremony at Coleman Coliseum with the parents of Ashley Harrison, his girlfriend who died a year ago with 52 others in the area and more than 250 throughout the state. Although the university received scores of interview requests for the long-snapper, he’s politely declined them all because today isn’t about him.
Nor is it about any of his teammates like offensive lineman Barrett Jones, who attended a prayer breakfast along with Mayor Walt Maddox. When recently asked where he was when the tornado hit, the Outland Trophy winner called himself an idiot for being home and watching it on TV, even though he subsequently spent days yielding a chainsaw and helping out where he could.
“Yeah. My dad taught me well,” he said with a smirk. “I grew up on the land. I know how to use the appliances outside.”
Of course, both the football and gymnastics teams went on to win national championships, which they would gladly give up to avoid the catastrophe, but life doesn’t quite work that way. Tomorrow, Coleman Coliseum will host a victory celebration for Sarah Patterson’s sixth title, but today it's home to the memorial service.
“I think that deep down inside, even though we never really talked about it, never used it as a motivating factor as a team, every player on the team, every coach on the staff, myself included, in the back of our mind, deep down in our heart, really wanted to accomplish something of significance for our fans who were affected and our community that was affected by the tornado,” Nick Saban said. “It was, I think, really positive for them. I think the great memories that our team sort of created with the kind of season that we had probably created a lot of hope for a lot of people, a lot of positive thoughts and memories that they have and hopefully gave them some joy in our life.”
So how should we act on today of all days? Personally, I’m going to follow the lead of my friends Alex Perez and Kathryn Lo Porto, whom I wrote about last year. Some of you may remember they used to live behind Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and were home when the tornado completely destroyed their neighborhood.
They’re going back to where their home used to be -- and the American Flag photo accompanying this article was taken -- for essentially the first time since salvaging what they could and starting over. Construction vehicles line now the road where news trucks had parked in the storm’s aftermath, but otherwise there’s nothing else there any more; No trees, no buildings, just a bunch of overgrown weeds and a whole lot of memories.
There will be a lot of hugs and tears, but then the soon-to-be married couple will do what is fitting for them, and probably a lot of other survivors as well: Offer toast.
A toast that they’re alive.
A toast for having successfully endured the past year,
A toast for better tomorrows.
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