The devastation from those tornadoes over the weekend is just unimaginable. It's something when a tornado blows through an area in Texas or Oklahoma, or somewhere else far away. But when people are dying in my home state of Minnesota and in the state of Iowa just a couple of hundred miles from here, it's another thing altogether.

I just can't help but wonder what I would do in a situation like that. One day I have a house, a lawn, a mailbox. The next day it's all gone. What would I do? Where would I go? It's just something that you can't know until you're unfortunately faced with it I suppose.

I've always been afraid of a tornado coming at my house. I guess most people would fear that naturally, but I think my intense fear came from my mother, who always hit the basement (with good reason I suppose) whenever there was any sort of severe weather outside. One night in Brainerd we sat in our front yard and watched a wall cloud form into a funnel cloud well north of our house. My mom of course was telling my dad, a good friend, and me to get our behinds inside. We eventually did. That's about as close to a twister as I've ever been, and ever hope to be.

I've covered the aftermath of a storm like that, and it's just unbelievable. I remember a family in Manchester, South Dakota, that I talked to just a few hours after one of the "Tornado Tuesday" twisters blew through. They lost everything. But they were all alive, and that's all that mattered. They eventually rebuilt a home near the spot of their old one. They made it through, but it wasn't easy.

So tonight when you lay your head down just be thankful your bed is still in the same place it was the night before, because in an instant it could be in your neighbors yard. And say a prayer for those victims too today, because I'm guessing by now it's all really starting to sink in. And that can't be good.

Sorry this post is so serious, but it just hit me today watching all of that video, knowing that hundreds of people are without a home tonight. It definitely makes me thankful I still have one.