I Survived the Joplin Tornado, 2011

In Chapter 15, after Jeremy and Dex’s first conversation post tornado, Jeremy sends his little brother his SEAL pin with a note that reads, “You earned this” (88). Initially, Dex is shocked that his brother would part with the object that “made Jeremy a SEAL” (88). As he reflects, however, Dex understands that the pin is a symbol of the qualities that define a SEAL. What made Jeremy a SEAL is not the pin but “what was inside him”—courage, determination, discipline, and commitment to serving others. By passing the pin to his brother, Jeremy acknowledges Dex as embodying those qualities as well. Similarly, Dex reflects that what made Joplin a community is not the buildings that the tornado tore apart but the faith, resilience, and strength of the people. 

In Chapter 8, Dex is knocked out by a large hailstone. After getting him safely back to the car in Chapter 9, Dr. Gage recovers a hailstone that he stores in his portable freezer as a souvenir for Dex. Dex still has the hailstone in Chapter 15, when he and his family are living in an apartment temporarily; after the tornado, Dex had recovered it from Dr. Gage’s freezer.

When Dex first takes the hailstone out of the freezer, he wants “to smash it into a million pieces” since it was “part of the storm system that had destroyed his city” (85).