Showers, tornadoes & springtime, oh my!

Is it May? When did that happen!?

May means a few things for this girl:
a. Sweeeeeeps. AKA 'The Book' AKA TV ratings time. A-game all the time, no time off and high intensity at work.
b. Wedding Shower Season! Official countdown = less than 2 months until my best friend's wedding!
c. OK, that's really all there is. Work/Wedding/Work/Wedding.

Now that I think about it, that's kind of what April was all about too.

Exhibit A: A few weeks ago I was feverishly addressing wedding shower invites so I could get them out in time for people to RSVP (which only 8% of people do, for the record). I was startled by a loud crack of thunder and messed one of them up-- which should have been a sign.

A short time later I got the call. Tornadoes touched down in the STL area. Time for me to go into work.
Heavy sigh.
Cue the 16 hour work day with ZERO sleep.
To sum it up, my contact lenses were not happy with me.

Really though, it's days and events like this that I think TV news does its best work. It's one of my favorite times to be a reporter. Hearing the stories of survival and how the community comes together is always very humbling for me, and it's neat to be a part of.

The media 'frenzy' is also a sight to see. The picture above shows the crowd around Governor Nixon when he visited Hazelwood, the hardest hit area.

The ladies below are employees of the Hazelwood School District. I got to go back on the first Saturday after the storm and follow them around as they went door-to-door checking in and helping families. The outreach effort from the district was really impressive. Inspiring to see how people emerge after tough times to help each other out. 

And I loved the sign in the shot below. We saw a few of them throughout the neighborhood. It really is something to see how much people care...and the gratitude from those on the receiving end-- equally awesome!

On a regular day you might watch a newscast and think there's a whole lot of bad going on. But Mr. Rogers' mom was right...there are always helpers.

Thanks for reading!
em