where there is love, there is art.: last weekend in april.

i anticipated this weekend being very peaceful and quiet. lots of studying before my spring finals for grad school. i don't know why i thought that would be the case. i don't remember the last time that was the case really. instead my weekend involved the magic city art connection {my favorite annual art festival in birmingham}, dinner with a dear friend visiting from carolina, debris clean-up in concord, cooking dinner with friends, and listening to the beautiful harmony of the avett brothers. it was a full weekend to say the least. it was a good weekend, especially in comparison to so many of my neighbors. everything seems so trivial now. everything i do that doesn't involve the consequence of april 27th seems selfish. it's hard to reconcile this with myself.

it's impossible to not have a perspective change after seeing what i saw and experienced in concord {alabama}. it honestly still doesn't seem real. for miles and miles the only thing you can see is rubble, rubble that was once the homes and memories of a community. i arrived with the first group of volunteers to be allowed into concord. we were told in training how to handle the situation of finding a body. processing that information was sickening. there are no words for how it feels to witness families return to concord for the first time since they were rescued. no words of comfort are enough. yet when i pulled out from under the wood pile what i thought was a white sheet, dusted it off, and gave it to the man i was trying to help tears immediately filled both of our eyes. it was a wedding dress, a dress of happy memories, and a symbol of this family's unity. for me it was a moment i will never forget.

i hope you all had a memorable weekend as well. spending it with those you love most, making memories, and counting your blessings.

i urge you still... do what you can for your neighbor.
there is nothing more powerful than actions of love.

photos from the weekend: