BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — As the sun rose Sunday morning in Bowling Green, it only revealed pain for many.

“It’s just like a nightmare, hoping I can wake up from it,” resident Sharpai White said.

White has been living in the city for more than 15 years. Her home came out unscathed when a tornado tore up the area. But white lost something so much more important — her mother.

“It’s just so hard because I’m on the phone with her all the time,” White said.

Law enforcement did what they could to get her out, but it was too late.

“By the time [first responders] got down here, she had passed away,” she said.

White wasn’t the only one experiencing loss. Take your pick – anywhere near Jennings Creek Elementary School, families were grieving.

“I handed him the baby, and it blasted me into the yard,” resident Angie Gwathney said, gesturing to her boyfriend.

Gwathney was hunkered down in her now-destroyed home when the tornado blew through.

“Like my car was actually parked over here by this tree,” she said, pointing in her front yard, “and it’s over here now into my daughter’s vehicle.”

Her house is now in shambles. Kids toys and athletic shoes lie on the ground, serving as memories that once existed here.

“I think it’s shock because yesterday I didn’t even cry, I was just in pure shock,” Gwathney said.

When you lose just about everything, there’s not really much you can do.

“Try to keep going to work and try to get a place to live,” she said.

Whether it’s rebuilding or mourning, there are a lot of emotions going around Bowling Green. For White, she will mourn, but she also remembers a mother who always made her laugh even in darkness.

“Spontaneous,” she said. “Hilarious jokes.”

But now, the jokes have ceased. All that’s left are memories.