Diary of a Country Girl

Chapter One:

Dear Diary:

Tre and I are home from our trip. We made so many memories and grew even closer together. I'm so happy he chose Tartosa. It's a place I've always dreamed of visiting. I pictured myself with a handsome man, dining al fresco at a little seaside ristorante. And there I was actually living the moment. It was beyond my wildest dreams. I'm not a glamorous girl, but it was fun pretending I was even for one night.

He booked us into a lovely villa on a bluff overlooking the bay. The views were simply breathtaking.

We didn't call it a honeymoon, not at first. By the end I felt like that's what it was. I don't regret eloping with Tre, but I'd still love to have a proper wedding when time allows.

My fairytale wedding can wait. The trip came along at the perfect time. Between finishing my degree and our move I've been so stressed out. It's hard to believe but the move is just a week away. There's so much we have to do but I'm feeling rested and ready. I'm so excited for all the wonderful things Tre and I have in mind for our new ranch. That's all for now. 

Dear diary:

Our trip to Tartosa feels like a lifetime ago. Yet it's only been three days since we got home. Last night we had a terrible storm come through Chestnut Ridge. Severe weather is not new to me. I've spent most of my life in this area. Last night's storm was one of the worst I can remember.

We were having a fun couples night. We were in the middle of a game of woo-who when the worst of the storm happened.

Storms like these are new to Tre. They don't have storms this bad in Del Sol Valley. I could tell he was worried but we kept playing woo-who. I had one eye on the TV in case they broke in with weather reports. Then I heard it coming. I've never been close to a tornado. But I just knew that one was coming. The sound was like nothing I've heard before. It was the most terrifying feeling. It was the middle of the night so we couldn't see it. We had no idea if it was going to hit us or miss us. 

We were lucky and the storm missed the little ranch. As soon as it passed we checked on the animals and thank God they were all safe and sound in the stable. Afterwards I had a sick feeling that we hadn't been entirely lucky. I told Tre we needed to go check on the new ranch. It was still dark but the lights of the pickup showed us enough. Our new home was right in the path. It was gone. As the sun started to rise we could see how bad it was.

We don't know what we're going to do. We're so thankful that no one was hurt. It could have been so much worse. We were just days away from moving in. A week later and we would have been here when it happened. We still had all of our most prized possessions with us at the little ranch. Insurance will pay for what we lost. But Tre and his handyman friends had worked so hard building our home. All that hard work was gone. We find comfort in knowing that we're both still alive. Nothing else matters.