Because I’m not on Facebook, the news was slow to reach me tonight that two of my friends in Dallas — families, I mean — suffered from the tornado that hit there. One family lost one of its vehicles, and part of its roof was torn off, and the other family lost their office. “It’s no more,” H., the wife and mom, wrote to my wife just now.

I was standing with H. just yesterday at the Orthodox parish in Shreveport after liturgy, talking about how well their family business is going. She was there to pick up kids from St. Seraphim parish in Dallas, who had been at a church work-service weekend in Shreveport. I was there picking up my middle son. And now, in a matter of minutes, their entire business has been destroyed.

Please check in, Dallas readers. Were you hit by the tornado? What can the rest of us do for you?

I loved almost everything about living in Dallas, but the tornado threat was easily the worst thing about it.  We have hurricanes here in Louisiana, but you can know that they’re coming, and prepare for them. There’s no preparation for tornadoes. And, this one hit after dark. There was no way to know it was headed your way until it was on top of you.