And The Lights Came On...

Thursday morning I went back to work following the tornadoes that ravaged so much of the South. I arrived early to the company gym for a HOT shower...it was WONDERFUL despite forgetting to pack a razor to shave my legs! By the time I arrived home that afternoon our electricity was on (cable/Internet came back Sat.).

I have to admit that I CAN live without electricity (with a generator, of course)...my family and I spent time huddled around the kitchen table talking, laughing, sharing by oil lamp and candles. Dinners were more intimate with friends and it was actually...Fun! The ONE thing that almost sent me over the edge was not having hot water! Lukewarm bird baths and lukewarm leg shaving (shiver) was not my kind of roughing it and I hated those moments of  "damn, I need to warm up some water on the cook stove so I can take a bath"...trust me when I say that it was not the least bit warm!

Saturday Rich & I worked in the yard getting it all 'back to normal'. There's almost a guilt there that we are able to do that when there is not a normal anymore for 70 families in our neighborhood.  I feel guilty every day when I drive in/out of the neighborhood, past house after house that has been utterly destroyed...I drive on up the hill to my street and the only reminder of the tornado is downed trees that have been cut up. There is nothing more to do for the neighborhood; all that's left is to bulldoze the debris and repair house that are salvageable. It's eerily quiet down there when I drive through..ghost-town'ish.

Yesterday Rich & I took a long bike ride across Alabama and up to Tennessee. Along the way we passed so many neighborhoods that look just like ours. It's easy to sit back (because I've done it) and thought...what about our neighborhood?? Where are the resources? It took 5 days for the Red Cross to start showing up...and EMS? Well, we think about the same time, but we can't be for sure. Then I see that there aren't just  MANY places just like our neighborhood....there are actually TOWNS. We are not the only ones! It's heart-breaking.

These were totally just random words...