The Day After the Storm

 September 27, 2024

I wish I had something to say to convince you that being a storm survivor was a good feeling. Of course, I am thankful that me and mine are fine; but I think of others who are fighting the aftermath of the storm, Helene, fighting the emotional and financial part of a storm that takes more than it gives.

I have lived in middle Georgia since 1979 and I have never been under a hurricane warning that I recall.  It was so unusual it took me a minute to believe that it could be real.  It finally dawned on me that I needed to make some kind of sensible preparation.  The first thing I did was to run water in my bathroom sinks and fill water jugs.  That was after I discovered that Instacart and Publix were closing down shop and leaving us to fight this as best we could.  Of course, it was 7 p.m. when I discovered that, and if I had been Publix and Instacart, I would have done the same thing.

Having said that, the reality hit me that perhaps, just perhaps I may need to fill a few containers with water, check the batteries in my flashlight, and check my food supply.  I do not keep a lot of food on hand; in fact, if you came and looked in my refrigerator, you would wonder what the problem could be. Therefore, I had no fresh vegetables, and I do not store canned foods, therefore it came down to the fact that I had a box never opened of organic oatmeal and organic grits. Don't let me fail to mention I also had some very stale bread, but edible; it had no mold on it.  Okay, so I was good to go on food.  I basically could eat oatmeal and grits for a long time.  It is the old-fashioned kind too; they had to be cooked.  I have a gas stove and I couldn't think of any reason I could not get a flame going under a pot to keep me from starving.

Basically, after I removed my patio chairs and cushions, I was rocking and rolling; and praying every breath for the electricity not to go off.  I also prayed for all my family, my home, my community, and everyone in the path of Helene. I quickly determined I had done all I could do. The next thing, of course, was to lie on the sofa, watch a movie, and pray that somehow I was in a bad dream.

After the movie, I went to bed and started reading a new thriller about a serial killer; which, by the way, takes your mind off a great many things, but is not necessarily the best way to end a day that has already been filled with the unknown about a possible storm that could take you out. I read until 3 am,  it was not that the book was that good, I just didn't want a tornado to wake me up.  If one was coming I wanted to know it was coming, I would rather greet that guest than be awakened on my bed in my neighbor's yard or hanging from a tree.

I did go to sleep, however, and woke promptly at 7 a.m. when my children started texting on our group page. I disarmed my alarm system, and opened my garage, to see if I was still on the same street.  Thankfully, I was.  I had no trees down, I still had electricity, and all was well in our neighborhood.

I immediately started looking at social media and the weather channel to find out what had happened the four hours I had slept. All my family was still breathing, there were trees down on the family farm, the farmhouse, and my sisters' house had several trees down with some on the house, and also the one-room school house which was built a hundred years ago ( literally) had lost a lot of the tin roof, and there was an electrical line down nearby, but nothing that could not be fixed. I was not observing that, I was being told that; so there may be other things destroyed that I am not yet aware of, but when the sun rose, we were all in one piece.

How was I supposed to feel? I felt relief on the one hand, but on the other hand, I had heard from friends and the damage that had been done, I had seen the meteorologists swaying and pummeled,  and I gave thought to the flooding and the upset lives of families for hundreds of miles all around Helene, and I could not grab hold of a good feeling. 

All day today, I have been walking around like it was a dream we had all been in with a storm named Helene. I really can't say I prayed and the Lord answered, actually He did, I asked for protection and He gave it. But I also prayed for the protection of everyone. But everyone cannot say today, He answered my prayer; how can we thank Him that we are okay and that others are suffering?

We are all bundled into life together, those of us who are moving through life together at this time of earth's history, and we will have shared experiences.  None of us are spared the tragedies of life. It may not touch me today, it may have never touched me, but one day each of us will be in a nightmare or a dream that we have a hard time pulling away from, we just won't all be there at the same time.

  That is why we must pray for one another. The storm is coming.