Note: I am intentionally NOT including photos in this article, as I know that I sure didn’t want to see such photos right after I went through this. Links point to blog entries that can have photos, however

We’re now at just over 9 months since having our own lives turned upside down by the May 22, 2011 Minneapolis tornado. We’re far along enough in our repairs , that we’re more able to notice what’s going on in the rest of the world… right in time for a major tornado season. Awesome. :/

Watching the coverage of the insane amount of Tornadoes that hit on Friday was incredibly rough. While a lot of the imagery was far beyond what we experienced here last spring, it stirred up a lot of extremely vivid memories of those first few days.

I’ll be honest – just hearing “Tornado Cleanup Forecast” made me tear up. I remember what it was like, not having an intact roof, and just dreading rain in the forecast. I remember listening to the rain fall on our tarp, just dreading any further damage as a result. I’ve never felt so powerless in my whole life… NOT a great feeling.

It’s now four days since the tornado outbreak, so I’m assuming a lot of the immediate must-dos have been taken care of – I’ve seen many to-do lists in the media. Turn the power off, etc. It’s great, but I’m not seeing any “been there, done that” type real-world advice for what to consider next. You know, the kind of advice I could have used at that point in the game.

So, in the interest of paying forward some of the help we received in our time of need, I’d like to offer up some tips based on the lessons we’ve learned. Most of these may seem like little things, but will go a long way to keeping you sane, whether now or down the road. (more…)