I'm not in Kansas anymore!

I admit it. I am petrified of tornadoes. I grew up in a place that had never had a tornado and my only experience with tornadoes hunkering down in the boys' bathrooms during the obligatory elementary school tornado drill. And we had to take cover last year when a small tornado came within miles of Crawford. But the whole idea of a tornado scares me! I am grateful that I don't live in a place where you actually have to worry about them on a regular basis.

So yesterday I was in the heart of Tornado Alley and I'm pretty sure that it was close by to where Dororthy, Toto, and Auntie Em lived during the Wizard of Oz. I traveled with POTUS to Greensburg, Kansas for the Greensburg High School graduation of only 18 graduates. You might remember that Greensburg got hit by a tornado last year. Actually demolished would be a better word. We were there on the one-year anniversary and to see the devastation even after 12 months of rebuilding really blew me away (absolutely no pun intended). We drove in on Main Street and there was literally one building left standing. There were several new homes that were being built but right across the street would be lots where houses once stood. Our guide who was a student in the next town over pointed out where the theater had been, which stores had been destroyed. It was amazing! But the resilience of the 18 graduates and their families, and really the whole town was inspiring!

I didn't take these pictures but this is what it looked like last year when the President visited a few days after the storm:



Greensburg is pretty much smack dab in the middle of the country. We flew into Wichita and then rode a bus for more than two hours to get there. I don't know if you've spent much time on a bus with your coworkers but it's strange. It's a mix between being in the office and being on the bus in seventh grade. And I really do like my colleagues!

The rest of my weekend was spent in Crawford, Texas. The best part was that I got to see my friend Liz who drove up from Austin. We did pretty much nothing except eat ice cream and custard. The weather was really nice so at one point, I was throwing a baseball back in forth with one of my coworkers. I tried to do it bare handed but he was throwing it at a normal speed. So I borrowed one of the WH press secretary's glove. Everyone was impressed that I didn't throw like a girl and that I only missed one catch. Thank goodness for my all star season of softball in the 7th grade. That's when my sports career peaked.

Also, for those of you are still unclear what I do for a living (OK, that probably includes most of you including my mother), here is another example of my work. This aired over the weekend but I worked on it last week before I left. It was quite fun so I wanted to share this with you! No, I didn't buy a belt buckle but I did buy even more cheesy Crawford gifts!!