I opened my dream hair salon 18 months ago. Then Kentucky's devastating tornadoes reduced it to rubble.

• Last year, Korey Toon opened her dream hair salon. Her husband built the building for her.
• But after recent tornadoes ripped across Kentucky, only one wall of Toon's salon was left standing.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Korey Toon, a business owner in Kentucky. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Eighteen months ago, my dream of owning my own hair salon came true. But as a deadly batch of tornadoes ripped through Kentucky, leaving at least 64 people dead and many dozens more injured, our town was hit.

Now, there's only rubble left where my dream salon once stood.

While the salon was standing, it was everything I've ever dreamt of

My husband, who grew up building houses, built The Beauty Shop for me with his bare hands. It meant so much to me that he did it himself. It was just incredible to watch how hard he worked.

Even though it was stressful to start a hair salon during the pandemic when there were tons of sanitation and distancing rules to abide by, I still loved it. I created a little family at The Beauty Shop with the other women who worked with me. I was really proud of what we were doing there.

In the hours before the tornado touched down, I closed the shop up for the night. I was supposed to work until 9 p.m. that night, but the news of the incoming tornado was making me nervous. I canceled my last two clients, sent the other workers home, and locked up the shop to go be with my children.

I got a text that night from a friend telling me that only one wall of the salon was still standing

As I sat in my home, which thankfully hadn't been damaged, I didn't know what to think.

Our town is very close-knit, and other people started calling and texting me to tell me about my shop. I didn't know what to do, so once it was safe, my husband drove the five miles to the shop to check if everyone was right.

He called me crying, saying he had built the shop with his two hands and there was nothing left of it.

The next morning, I went to see the ruins myself

My parents were there already, seeing if there was anything to salvage. I was broken-hearted. The shop was only 10 minutes away from our house, but it was like a different world. There's a bridge you cross to get there, and once we crossed the bridge, everything was destroyed. There was nothing left.

I have a hard time finding the words to describe it. Some of the women I work with were there helping, and we all just cried together. We didn't know what to do. We weren't expecting the tornado to be that destructive.

Because The Beauty Shop was only a year old, we haven't yet paid off the loan we took out to build it. Luckily, the shop was insured, but it seems like we may only have enough money to pay off the loan — not rebuild. We're waiting for the insurance adjusters to come, but they're having a hard time finding hotel rooms in the area.

I want to rebuild my dream, but it all depends on money

Right now, the numbers don't look great. I'm devastated. I'm heartbroken. But I'm also grateful.

Yes, it was my dream, but it was only a building. I'm so thankful that no one was at the shop when it was hit. The women I work with are safe, and so are their homes. My home is standing and my children and husband are safe. It's been a nightmare, but it could have been much worse.

I'm just grateful we're all OK, and people have really been rallying around us. People from all around the world have reached out to see how they can support us, and we've started a GoFundMe to try to rebuild the salon. So many lives have been affected, but it's incredible to see how our community has come together in the aftermath.

It may sound strange to say, but looking around and seeing what people have lost — their houses and their lives — I can't help but be grateful.

A shop can be rebuilt, but lives can't.