How surprised was I when I read on the AP newswire Monday evening, that a tornado had ripped through Brunswick County, where I grew up.

I immediately called my mom and asked about this. She said she did hear that a tornado had touched down in the Freeman area (which isn't really a town, but more so an area of the county), and had hit two houses. She didn't know whose houses they were, but she hadn't heard of any injuries, which was good news in such a bad situation.

The weird part of this story is that my mom, who recently went from being an emergency room nurse to being a home-health nurse, was actually going to Freeman that afternoon to see a patient. She told me that she had to call the woman to reschedule the appointment for the following day because the weather was getting really bad. (At this time, no one knew it was a tornado). I'm so glad she did that! However, this wouldn't be the first time that my mom dodged a tornado...

Back in 1993, a major tornado ripped through Colonial Heights, which is one of the locations that was also hit yesterday. My mom had a doctor's appointment there that day but it ended up being canceled. Because Colonial Heights is the closest city, folks from my hometown generally go there to do shopping at the mall and at Walmart.  Well, that day, the tornado ripped through the Walmart, and it killed 3 or 4 people. The damage was so bad that they actually had to tear down the store and rebuild a new one.  I remember my mom telling me that she most likely would have actually been at that Walmart, at that time, when the tornado came through. She was planning on going shopping to pick up a few things before heading back home from her doctor's appointment. How crazy is that? I thank God that doctor's appointment was canceled that day!

I do think it's odd that the tornado in Colonial Heights yesterday hit the same area where the previous one in 1993 hit. I would say there is about  500 feet that separates the two locations. It's pretty much across the street from each other. From what I can recall, the Target shopping center that was hit yesterday wasn't built yet back in 1993.  But across the way is where the Sam's Club now is, and that's where the Walmart was. The Walmart they rebuilt is actually in a lot across the street from the Target that was hit yesterday. I guess lightening might not hit the same place twice, but it looks like tornados do.