What would you take?

If you only had a few minutes to pack, what would you take? Before I go any further with this post, I wanted to say that I understand so many in this world we live in are facing things much worse than my story I’m about to tell.

Friday evening was a rough one for Kansas. Where I live, we got extremely lucky. We somehow stayed in the middle of two lines of storms. Andover, however, took a hit. At the time I’m writing this, I do not know if there are any injuries. My heart is with the residents and businesses that got hit.

All day, the weather forecasts talked about the storms, prompting us to prepare accordingly. We don’t have a basement and live in a farmhouse so we wouldn’t stand a chance against a tornado. As I packed, I wondered “what should I take?” As I’m reflecting on this thought process now, I realized, the only things I packed were things that we truly needed — meds, dog leashes, insurance/driver’s license, food and treats for the dogs, along with their food and water bowls, puppy pads and our purses. That’s it. No photos. Nothing else. Just the basics.

Which leads me to my next thought:

As I write this, I get a little teary-eyed. While we were going to my office to safety, we knew we would probably be back. And, we did. The storm didn’t form like expected and we are back home now as I type this. But I think of people fleeing violence all over the world, only taking what they can carry and not having the luxury of knowing they’d probably be back. Or even if they are going to live through the journey. Now I’m crying. My heart aches for the people at our border, who can’t get in. The people who are here that are marginalized and told to go home.

Let me be very clear on how I feel about this: no human is illegal.

We are all humans. And we are all one political crisis away from the very same situation. Remember that if you’re ever forced to flee your country and beg for entry to another. Be kind. Be understanding. Support sensible legislation that allows safe entry into our country. Because they could all be us. We could all be them.