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I've slept, my Covid fever has broken, the power has stayed on, and while I'm still feeling very wiped out, dazed, and a bit winded, the immediate things are all a bit less immediate. So I've been catching up on the weather news.
It's odd to say, but I've been lucky. We had water throughout, we only lost power for two days, there's really no building damage that I've seen in my apartments, though my sister had some trees knocked down and a window smashed by debris. I'm not sure if I've said, but I'm currently living in Charlotte, NC, a city between 750k-900k residents depending on how you count it (loads of suburban sprawl around here), so about a tenth the size of NYC, but not tiny by any means. Slightly larger than Seattle or DC, slightly smaller than San Francisco or Austin, TX in most of the rankings I've seen. The important thing is we're something of a regional center with a lot of resources to rebound from this kind of thing, and also there's lots of open space for the water to go into. The timing was crap for me personally, but at a larger scale we're okay as anyone is just now.
The same can't be said for the mountains. Highways completely washed out and impassable, projected to be without power through at least next Friday and potable water probably for weeks beyond that. They're having to airlift in medicine, water and food. Cell phone coverage was inoperable through large areas of the state because of damaged equipment and loss of power, so there are lots of people panicking, and that's only just getting sorted out. It's getting likened to Katrina, and not unreasonably so.
But my immediate family is more or less okay. There are some legitimate logistics concern about people getting prescription refills and the like, but no one's really hurt and families still without power. My grandmother's home health aide basically moved in with her and is taking care of her full time. Etc. And if I can be blunt, the thankfulness is wearing on me, because this isn't something we should have to be thankful for. Optimism in the face of disaster, especially when put in religious terms, is something of a trigger for me, and I've still got a lot of anger and pain around that kind of thing so it's still a tender wound for me. This will probably sound odd given how religious I am, but I still struggle quite a bit with the idea of a just, good or loving God, and am more likely to lean into the faith of Job -- and only that because I seem temperamentally or psychologically or whatever-other-way incapable of just not believing in God at all. God must be navigated for me, but that doesn't make it neat or easy, especially at times like this.
Small entertaining (to me bit): I was reminded that the spreadsheet I designed for Samaritan's Purse way back in 2005 to organize their volunteer work teams after Katrina is still being used. Clearly I know how to design a report. Perhaps I should ask them for a job reference... :-)
Anywho. Exhausted. Angsting a bit. But dry, interneted and air conditioned. Bilbo is happy to say the can-opener and running water still works, and her cat-mom's being less distracted means loads more lap-time, which she is personally in favor of. Truthfully, so am I.
I do hope anyone else in the region is keeping their toes dry. Well wishes to all!
It's odd to say, but I've been lucky. We had water throughout, we only lost power for two days, there's really no building damage that I've seen in my apartments, though my sister had some trees knocked down and a window smashed by debris. I'm not sure if I've said, but I'm currently living in Charlotte, NC, a city between 750k-900k residents depending on how you count it (loads of suburban sprawl around here), so about a tenth the size of NYC, but not tiny by any means. Slightly larger than Seattle or DC, slightly smaller than San Francisco or Austin, TX in most of the rankings I've seen. The important thing is we're something of a regional center with a lot of resources to rebound from this kind of thing, and also there's lots of open space for the water to go into. The timing was crap for me personally, but at a larger scale we're okay as anyone is just now.
The same can't be said for the mountains. Highways completely washed out and impassable, projected to be without power through at least next Friday and potable water probably for weeks beyond that. They're having to airlift in medicine, water and food. Cell phone coverage was inoperable through large areas of the state because of damaged equipment and loss of power, so there are lots of people panicking, and that's only just getting sorted out. It's getting likened to Katrina, and not unreasonably so.
But my immediate family is more or less okay. There are some legitimate logistics concern about people getting prescription refills and the like, but no one's really hurt and families still without power. My grandmother's home health aide basically moved in with her and is taking care of her full time. Etc. And if I can be blunt, the thankfulness is wearing on me, because this isn't something we should have to be thankful for. Optimism in the face of disaster, especially when put in religious terms, is something of a trigger for me, and I've still got a lot of anger and pain around that kind of thing so it's still a tender wound for me. This will probably sound odd given how religious I am, but I still struggle quite a bit with the idea of a just, good or loving God, and am more likely to lean into the faith of Job -- and only that because I seem temperamentally or psychologically or whatever-other-way incapable of just not believing in God at all. God must be navigated for me, but that doesn't make it neat or easy, especially at times like this.
Small entertaining (to me bit): I was reminded that the spreadsheet I designed for Samaritan's Purse way back in 2005 to organize their volunteer work teams after Katrina is still being used. Clearly I know how to design a report. Perhaps I should ask them for a job reference... :-)
Anywho. Exhausted. Angsting a bit. But dry, interneted and air conditioned. Bilbo is happy to say the can-opener and running water still works, and her cat-mom's being less distracted means loads more lap-time, which she is personally in favor of. Truthfully, so am I.
I do hope anyone else in the region is keeping their toes dry. Well wishes to all!
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Those are Good Things.
*many many hugs*
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Not sure I have any wisdom on the God and natural disasters front, as that's something I struggle with myself, especially when I hear people talking about how God saved them when in the background is the house of the neighbor who was killed. There must be some middle ground somewhere between overly simplistic theology about God's intervention in individual lives and God being absolutely aloof from it all, but I do struggle to find that "sweet spot." At the same time, though I may feel uneasy when people say things like that so soon after a near miss, I try not to judge. Having never been in that kind of situation, I can't say that I wouldn't feel and say the same thing. I suppose faith really does have to be sorted out individually, and grace extended to those who stand in different points on the journey.
The lack of medicine is so scary to me. I get my rx meds in 90-day fills, and I always hope that if a disaster HAS to strike, it strikes the day AFTER I pick up the refill and not on the day before I can renew, when I'm down to only a week's worth of pills.
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- Erulisse (one L)