the warmth, peace and tranquility of my home has been disturbed by mother nature... she has reminded me that i am at her mercy, and as such a mere pawn on her chess board...
on Thursday 11-30-06 she rained snow, ice and thunder on my home... she broke branches from the trees in my yard, tossing one on the roof of my outdoor shed causing it frown... the snow she brought piled up on my drive way and on top of my vehicles (as my luck would have it, my garage door is broken)...
i shoveled her frozen tears from the drive way and wiped away those that fell on my truck... she must have cried a lot because her tears froze into a two inch deep sheet of ice...
so far, i have been understanding of her pain, but she felt the need to further convince me... this time she took another branch and threw it onto the power line, thereby cutting off the power to several homes, including my own...
during the summer, St. Louis suffered a major power outage that lasted for several days (some people did not have their power restored for 2 weeks)... i escaped that hit and never lost power at all... this time i wasn't so lucky... i have been away from my house for the past three days and two nights, and there are no estimates on when power will be restored...
but i still count my blessings... i have migrated to the security of my office/lab... i have a cot on which to sleep, heat, and warm water... currently i am sharing this space with co-workers... we have opened the doors to those who are less fortunate and invited them to come inside... my brother who owns a restaurant has been feeding us... (being here has given me an opportunity to get caught up on a lot of paperwork - i can't remember ever getting to work this early)...
for those who are less fortunate and have no or limited choices, i cannot begin to feel their pain... my thoughts are with the elderly and those that are shut in... i have a list of elderly people who we will be supplying with food today... my thoughts go back to the days when i would get off work at 12:30 a.m., go to a nearby White Castles or Popeyes Chicken and purchase a family sized box of chicken or burgers... i would then trek to a nearby spot where i know of homeless people sleeping on the sidewalk and offer this food to them... some would take the offering, others would refuse it and others would want to know for which agency/shelter do i work...
my current situation has forced me to give more thoughts to things that i would normally put off for a later time, or things that i took very lightly... i expect for my room to be illuminated when i flip the light switch... i expect to find a cold pitcher of water in my refrigerator... i expect my Hagen Daaz rum and raisin ice cream to be sitting at the front of the freezer waiting for my greetings when i open the freezer door... now that ice cream has probably lost its ice and is now cream... but am i worried about it?... nope...
as i look outside, i am reminded of how tiny i am when compared to the rest of the world... i am elated that nature is truly a mother - the same hands that cradle, guide and protect me, are the same hands that slap me back to reality...
4 comments:
I hope your power is restored soon! No matter what count your blessings, yes. When trials come, but moreso during the calm. Glad to hear you have a warm, safe place and food to eat. Bless
It's so good to have a positive attitude when these inconveniences (I won't even call them misfortunes) happen, because there is really someone worse off.
Glad u are ok, and didn't lose life or limb during the storm. And glad that at least it helped u to refocus on the the things that we sometimes get too busy to remember.
You are a talented writer...i am glad you decided to blog.
There is nothing like your own bed at nights, but luckily you had options open to you...hope u kept warm :)
thanks for the feed back and words of encouragement...
my power is back on... but there are still those without...
there are those whose power was restored one morning and then went out the following evening...that must be very frustrating...
fortunately, mine has been on and has stayed on...
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