Most people have a storm story from last week. Mine is that I was sick Tuesday and wanted nothing more than to go home … but I couldn’t get there because of the storm. When the storm passed, I couldn’t quite get to my house because of trees blocking streets, so I had to walk a block. Finally reaching my home wasn’t a comfort because I was greeted by my hackberry tree — a striking visual (and monetary) casualty of the thunderstorm.Soon after I got home, I rested while neighbors started hauling and raking their debris to the curb. I caught up the next day, but missed all the chatter on the block just after the excitement. After the hubbub of the storm, I caught up on all kinds of stories floating around town. One person’s visiting mother-in-law parked her car on the street, only to find a tree limb on it after the storm. A couple on their honeymoon also learned that their vehicle broke the fall of a tree. Another man was worried about the squirrel family he enjoyed watching in a tree he lost to the storm. He fed the squirrel babies cookies and peanuts after the momma squirrel died, and hoped they would be OK.One man had to shell out about $6,000 for private tree removal.Crews working to remove damaged trees sometimes found notes tacked to them saying, "Please don’t take our tree. Try to save it."A positive note about the storm is that workers said people of Luverne were more than kind to them.One contractor said, "There were a lot of ‘thank you’s and people running out to help us do boulevard raking. People were just exceptionally friendly and nice." And they were generous, too. Many workers said they were offered ice cream, homemade cookies, lemonade, soda and donuts as they made their way through neighborhoods.Contractors didn’t fight for jobs. Volunteering city and county people worked side by side as if they’d always been co-workers.I suppose it was a bad storm, but it ended up bringing out lots of good stories.