Natasha Collier

800 Bouziden is full of wonderful memories, melting slugs in the backyard, playing with cousins, stuffing our faces, listening to the concerts upstairs, sitting

around the table talking and laughing, and walking into the wrong house down the street. but it was also just a house. The person that made the house is the most important. Even though it is not there anymore, we can make new memories in a new place with Aunt Sharon. I can still remember watching on TV that day when the tornado had touched down and headed for Moore. I was posting on Facebook to try and warn family and friends, asking about Aunt Sharon and Aunt Valerie, talking to my dad on the phone to see if Papa had made it home (he was in Norman headed back home). Then we headed to Wal-Mart to get stuff for Chey's birthday but still listening to it on the radio as it headed closer and closer to Aunt Sharon. Perry and I didn't even give it another thought we headed that way too make sure she was okay. The interstates were packed so he got off at Eastern hoping it would be a little less packed. By this time it had already lifted. We were about 2 miles from her house and we were driving through debris. We parked at that shopping mall closest to her house because the poles were knocked down in the street so we walked in from there. Turning on Bouziden my heart dropped and Perry could tell. He said, "How are we going to find her house when you always go to the wrong one?" That helped me a little... 'til we walked past that house and it looked like a giant had kicked in the front door. As we got closer walking through the debris and empty lots there was her house: damaged, but still there. The neighbors across the street yelled at us as we headed up the driveway, "She's there and okay." Seeing her walking out the front door the weight was lifted, and once she realized someone was there for her, her expression changed. We walked around looking at all the damage to the house and the neighborhood looked like a warfield. We were trying to figure out how to close the house up. Perry asked her where a hammer might be and without hesitation Sharon replied, "Well I usually kept it in the garage but you might want to check the living room." I can still remember her telling me that she can't stand change on the floor so we started picking it up off the floor through the broken glass of the China cabinet. I can still remember the look on Davis's and Dalton's faces as the ran up the street to find Grandma and make sure she was okay, and them telling her that they were going to find Kyla (Mom) who was working in the school behind the house. All in all the house has been lost but the most important thing is still with us so we can still make new memories in another house.