Did Will Carter Find Niko? - The Adairsville Tornado Pictures That Brought Tears

I'm sure by now most people have heard about the EF3 that hit Adairsville Georgia on Wednesday, from the same system that came through here early Wednesday morning. I was looking at some of the pictures, trying to think about how I could help out, when I saw the pictures that bring tears to my eyes every time I see them. They are pictures of a 15 year old named Will Carter who came home from school to a destroyed house. In the photos he's looking for his dog named Niko (go to Google images and search "Will Carter and Niko"). I'm not one of those people who can see a photo like that and just forget about it. Maybe it's because I've stood where Will Carter has stood.

I've been on every side of the fence you can be on in that situation. I've stood there heartbroken next to a pile of rubble hoping my pets were okay while knowing inside that there was no way they could have survived. I've felt the pure joy of finding one of them alive, followed 24 hours later by the crushing pain of having to bury another one. I also have the open wound for the one we never found. There's no closure. I don't know if he lived or died, and it's hard not knowing.

Below I've added a picture that was taken by my coworker Greg just minutes after Daisy was pulled from the rubble on day 12 (that's my coworker Josh in the background who actually pulled Daisy from the rubble). I hope that Will Carter gets to experience that joy. Unfortunately, the cameras will move on pretty quickly, and I'll probably be left with a question that I'll never know the answer to - Did Will Carter ever find Niko??????