This morning, when Joey flipped the radio on as he munched on his delicious breakfast of yogurt and granola, he was surprised to hear someone in good old Cedar Rapids being interviewed for a story.

“JENNA,” he yelled. “CEDAR RAPIDS IS ON NPR AGAIN.”

“It’s probably because tomorrow’s June 13,” I hollered back from the bathroom where I was just starting to brush my teeth.

“Oh,” said Joey.  “Well, they’re doing a bigger story on it tonight.”

Sure enough, there was the reporter, standing down on 6th Avenue talking about how much trouble people are having with rebuilding their homes.  And I thought, if NPR can flashback…then I can do, darn it.  The following things highlighted in yellow are links to old posts, pictures, and basically whatever I felt like linking to.

(Sorry, Cedar Rapids people.  This is all very old news to you.  You can skip this one.)

June 11 – Andrew and Laura rode their bikes downtown to watch the flood waters rise. They took pictures and emailed them to me…I was pretty shocked.

June 12 – Dad and the boys went downtown to try to sandbag his office and carry important things up to the 2nd floor.  Shortly thereafter, it was swamped under with water, along with 1,000 business and 5,000 homes.

June 13 – The flood waters crested at a record 31.12 feet, which is like 20 feet higher than the river is ever supposed to get.

June 16 – The waters receded enough for Dad got to go back downtown to survey the damage to his office.  He took some pictures which, incidentally, got Dad interviewed and then wound up on CNN because I posted them on iReport.

November 27 – On Thanksgiving Day, when I FINALLY got to go home, Dad took us Iowa expats on a flood tour.  It was super sobering.

I’m glad a year has gone by, and I’m glad Cedar Rapids is rebuilding.  I heart Cedar Rapids, always have, and even before we moved to Texas I remember telling Joey that I’d love to live there someday.  They may not have a Williams-Sonoma, but what they lack in shopping, they make up for in droves by having awesome people, my favorite church, familiar places, and that “I’m home now” feeling.

Too bad I have to wait all the way until Thanksgiving again to go back home.  An annual trip is just not enough Iowa for this Iowa girl.