At around 11:00 on Monday night the power came back on. Big Dan crept down the stairs and we both gave some silent fist pumps so as not to wake the sleeping children. And can I just take a minute to ask how in the world two tiny beings can take up that much space in a bed??
Drew got up with the birds again, but Emily was asleep, so he got to sit quietly and look at books until she woke up. When we were all up and moving it dawned on him that we had power again. He was so excited! And then came the let down. I think he had been very stressed through all of this ordeal and somehow the power coming back on was his signal to let it all out. I was sad for him. Drew is a very thoughtful kid. Not much gets by him. He listens to and processes every conversation he overhears. I listened to him pray, asking God to use His broom to clean up the flood on Highway 100. He was watching and listening.
I spent the morning on the phone with the pediatrician's office. Well, with their automated answering system, anyway. Emily had been running a fever since Saturday and she was miserable. i knew the office in my part of town was open and I assumed my pediatrician was there since he lives just down the road.
Our trip to the doctor's office was our first trip out since the flood came. The computers were down at the office and no pharmacies in Bellevue were filling prescriptions. Luckily, our ped's office has a pharmacy that fills basic prescriptions, but they were only taking cash. I had to take quite an adventure to find a working ATM. Drew had lunch and his nap in the car! As I drove to find some cash, I drove through Belle Meade-the upscale part of Nashville. Mud and debris littered the sides of the road and pavement was torn up all along the way. A large, prominent church building there had around six ServicePro vans sucking water out of their sanctuary.
Now that I was able to get online, I could not stop looking at reports and pictures of the damage.
It's a weird feeling. And I know what you're thinking. "Why are you so torqued up over this when nothing bad even happened to you?" Again, I'm not trying to take someone else's tragedy on as my own. I'm not. I don't know how to explain the sadness and the anxiety. But I do know that these feelings are bringing out the activist in me. I'm sure some of you are sort of tired of hearing about it. You may wonder why people are throwing a fit about the lack of national media coverage, presidential involvment, fill-in-the-gripe blank. I would say to you, just remember that all of it is coming from a place of pain. Even for those, like me, who did not suffer personal loss, something changes when a tragedy hits your community.
So now we turn the page and focus on how in the world we help our neighbors recover when they have lost everything. Big Dan visited a man from our church who lives nearby. Ray. He and his wife recently bought their home and spent their savings renovating their home. Big Dan said when he walked in the house it looked like a house that was being built. It was stripped to the bare studs and sub-flooring. Ray's wife and 2 year old son left town just as things got bad and are staying with family in Louisiana. When Big Dan called Ray to ask what he could bring by, Ray said he would love some clean socks. Seriously. Across the street from Ray's house, the houses were untouched.
I hope you will forgive the amount of times I mention the flood in upcoming posts. It will probably sneak in even when I go back to posting about the very riveting life of a stay at home mom. It's a part of Bellevue now. And, so, it's a part of me.
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