(MOBILE, Ala.) Gracie Bolton came from Leaksville, Mississippi all the way to Mobile for one big reason.
"Everybody in Mississippi loves my hair," she said, proudly.
And the reason they do, she says, is because of Healthy Beginnings Salon owner, Sonyia Johnson.
Sonyia's Sage Avenue shop was wrecked by the first of two December tornados that tore through the city.
But Sonyia didn't panic.
She found a place to work until her own shop was patched up.
But Gracie, who was watching the storm coverage with her husband in Leaksville, panicked.
Well, kind of.
"He said, Gracie, Gracie, be patient! Be patient!" she said, sitting under a dryer at Sonyia's shop. "And my daughter called me saying, mamma, it was Sonyia's place! And I said, what am I gonna do now?"
And Sonyia says it wasn't just Gracie.
"People were texting and calling, saying, ok, but what time can I come?" she said. "So I knew that I had to find somewhere to work."
2013 will be a year of reflection for Sonyia.
This is a difficult road she has to travel, but it turns out she's not traveling it alone.
She's finding out she's getting a lot of help and compassion from people she knows and people she doesn't know.
On Friday, Sonyia was doing hair in what's left of her shop, now that the roof has been repaired on the side that still has a roof.
Shortly after the storm, another salon, Split Enz, gave Sonyia a place to work.
And, then, thanks to her customers, other shop owners and people she didn't even really know, Sonyia was actually able to get back in her shop the day before Christmas.
"It actually was a good experience for me," she said. "I just had so many people that I never thought would offer help."
And the very next day, Chirstmas day, a few miles from her shop, a second tornado hit Murphy High, where her son attends.
And at a community meeting about that crises, another amazing act of kindness. Someone sitting on the same aisle at that meeting passed her a kind note with a $100 check inside.
"Just thank you!", she said. "I want to say thank you! That's just it!"
