Wind Storm

We really hope you are all recovering from the wind storm of last weekend. I have never seen anything like it in my life! I was driving back from a cookout at Darby Metro park shortly after the wind storm started when I saw the wind take a huge section of a tree down. Seeing the tree come down was one thing but the unbelievable thing was that the tree section just peeled the front off a barn. One minute, I am looking at a barn, the next, I am looking at all the hay stacked inside. It just got stranger and stranger. (Is stranger a word, other than for someone you shouldn’t talk to?)

We lost power momentarily several times on Sunday but were fortunate enough to never lose it completely Almost all the homes around us were not so lucky. If you don’t live in the country, you are probably not aware that if you do not have city water, you must rely on a well. If the power goes out, so does you water. So must of the area was without electric or water. God love ya!

Mom’s nursing home did not get power until Thursday afternoon. The emergency generator system allowed them to keep vital equipment and lights in the halls and nurses stations on, but all those poor people were so bored. No way of getting out and doing anything and no TV or radio. I felt so bad for them. Thank God the weather was tolerable. I cannot imagine how much more difficult that would have been if it was extremely hot or cold.

The terrific thing that came out of all this is seeing how people coped with all the problems and still found it within themselves to help others. Stories of extension cords running across streets, people with water letting others shower and do laundry, food being transported across neighborhoods and across town to store in freezers that were working.

We all take so much for granted, especially the small things we tend to overlook. So maybe surviving the wind storm of 2008 will give us a bigger appreciation for all those little things and for the kindnesses of strangers, family, friends and neighbors.

Sometimes we shine brightest when the electricity is off.

Hope your lights are on, your roof is secure and all your debris is removed.