This month, instead of taking my usual trip to the Canton Trade Days, we made the drive out to Canton with Mormon Helping Hands to help the tornado victims.

Knowing how much I love furniture, my son found me a couch! And I’m sharing it here because it really changed my perspective!

I couldn’t believe the damage that the tornadoes caused.

It was just shocking! There was a total of 7 tornadoes on the ground and they killed 8 people. Hundreds of homes were destroyed, and lives were changed in an instant.

This family’s home was lifted 6″ off the ground and set back down again, destroyed. We found an entire wall, luggage, clothing, pictures, and the refrigerator all smashed and ruined underneath gigantic felled trees!

It made me realize how fragile life can be!

Helping clear the land and working so hard felt good, and I left wishing we could do more.

I was also reminded how giving service to others often lightens your own load!  It was nice to take a break from my own problems and help someone else!

I have to admit, there was a small crazy part of me that thought about refinishing the couch…  But it was just too damaged. So I’m calling it the tornado couch. It taught me about service, it taught me about gratitude and it helped me be a little bit more aware of the needs of others.