Yesterday

For the past 36 hours or so, life has slowed to a near stop at our house, and here in town (photo not of our home).  A storm literally ripped through the city just before lunchtime on Monday, knocking down trees and creating lots of havoc.  At one point I was standing in the living room, listening to the wind and watching the weather updates and I told one of the kids that suddenly the wind just sounded different, and different in a bad way--it's like it was fuller and deeper-sounding.  I'd never heard anything like it.  Turns out a tornado was spotted a couple of miles from here, so maybe......just maybe that's what I heard.  Whatever it was, it tore some shingles from the roof, but thankfully our old oak tree survived and we're all fine.

But still, it's odd how the world keeps going at it when life for us has been a bit odd.  It's strange to drive through the neighborhood and see trees through roofs and in one case, the front gable of a house was sitting in the front yard after being shoved off the house from the back by a huge oak. And that's just in the next block up from us.

Many of our neighbors are without power, but we only lost our Internet/cable t.v. connection for over a day.  Not a huge loss, but enough to separate us from the outside world for a bit.  Anyway, a sweet friend will help Gary repair the roof later on this week, and that's a relief.  The insurance company was playing hard to get in terms of being agreeable to help, which is interesting in itself considering how much money we've poured into their pockets over the years.  Sadly typical.

Life goes on, no matter what, it just does.  And that's a huge blessing.  Normal stuff.  Sometimes I just crave it.

(photo from the commercial appeal, the local newspaper)