April 11 2016 was a special and unique day. In the coolness of a perfectly beautiful early spring evening, the sky changed from blue to gray to purple. The hail that fell at dusk was super-sized. It could have been a killer but for our Village East Apartments community it was a property destruction nightmare. Every car, every roof and every bush, shrub and flower was nearly destroyed. As fast as the storm came it retreated. It's wake left nearly 100 residents frightened, scared and without power or transportation. But they had each other. That evening everybody in our small community knew the first names of their neighbors and was willing to assist in any way possible. The after effects of our hail event continue to this day but each day it fades just a bit more. The emotional, physical and financial effects have made us all more aware of our vulnerability. Thoughtful recognition of weakness changed us to be less susceptible to future harm. So, in the end, the lesson we all learned, or re-learned, was that our neighbors are important, that we are stronger than we thought and we are stronger because of that early spring evening when the sky turned purple.