They found my niece's car yesterday. 150 yards from where she left it, in a ditch on top of another one with a tree somehow involved. It's either on top of the car or sticking out of it. Mama wasn't real clear. She hasn't seen it, and when the insurance adjustor called, she couldn't tell him exactly where it was. He called Morgan, the called back a few minutes later to say that they'd get someone out today or Monday, but it would most likely be a total loss.
Do you think? Direct hit from an F4 tornado, blown almost a tenth of a mile away, sitting on top of another car in a ditch with a tree involved. Would you drive it even if it got "fixed"?
Morgan's taken the opportunity to get out of town for a few days. She's gone to Illinois with one of her roommates. I think she just needed to get the hell out of Dodge for a few days, get some sleep and think about something else.
I can't blame her.
I want to get the hell out of Dodge for a few days, and I haven't been almost blown into oblivion.
I took a couple days off work to have some off that didn't involve illness or death. I haven't had any for a while. First Shannon in the hospital last October and again in December-January. Christmas and New Years in two different hospitals. Then Pinto died in February. He was our beautiful 18 year-old red tabby, whose ashes sit in an honored place in our bedroom. And then Daddy in July. Two trips to Tennessee later, I came home to a disturbing email: Richard's mother-in-law, Denise's mother, had been killed. Then Glenn's mother died, and John got put back in the hospital again. Then his mother died.
And now this. I guess I should just be happy that no one's dead. And I am. I just wonder when it's all going to quit. When I can get back to my boring life that stays boring for a few days at a time.
Life, as always, is a mess. The laundry keeps piling up and the diswasher needs to be emptied. I'll get to them when I can.
For now, I'm catching up on sleep.
09 February 2008
07 February 2008
Eany-Meany-Miney-Moe
For the first time in my life at the ripe old age of 42, I’m going to vote in a primary election. Up until now, the nomination has been decided long before the road show came to my town. Nothing to ensure a low voter turn-out than an already done-deal. Done, carved and served up nicely on the Party’s best china.
Not so this time around the block. My opinion actually matters. There will be no likely Democratic front-runner by the time they bring the show to Texas. We have too many delegates at stake for primaries in Louisiana and Nebraska to matter much. This time, Texas is the next California. In fact, we’re the biggest state left.
It’s time to turn the phone off.
We’ve already had enough calls from the Democratic party and the ACLU and the Committee to Elect Bob Dufus that I’ve pretty much stopped answering unless I’m expecting someone to call. God knows what it’ll be after the primaries and caucuses next Tuesday, when the campaigns have time to focus on the March primary states.
And the devil of it is that I still don’t know who I’m going to vote for. For the first time ever, mine could make a difference, but I don’t know who to endorse.
Both candidates have their good and bad sides. Hillary is a policy wonk who knows Washington inside out. Obama is a newcomer to Washington, a relative naïf.
Those are their strengths and weaknesses, in a nutshell.
One is very entrenched, and the other just got started digging one. I’m torn wondering how much difference trenches make. I’ve always been a staunch Clinton supporter, and I’d like to see the legacy live on. But then again, I’m enchanted by the idea of a fresh breeze blowing through the White House. Part of me thinks that it’s time to open all the windows and do a thorough house cleaning.
Maybe in the next month I’ll come to some peace about it all. Right now, I don’t know. I’m at all at sea.
I just keep hoping one of them will do something so stupid that it will make my decision easier. Given their records, I don’t think that will happen.
God is good and cruel at the same time. He gives two good candidates. Democrats around the country are both celebrating and gnashing their teeth.
It’s like “Sophie’s Choice”, only not filmed as well.
Not so this time around the block. My opinion actually matters. There will be no likely Democratic front-runner by the time they bring the show to Texas. We have too many delegates at stake for primaries in Louisiana and Nebraska to matter much. This time, Texas is the next California. In fact, we’re the biggest state left.
It’s time to turn the phone off.
We’ve already had enough calls from the Democratic party and the ACLU and the Committee to Elect Bob Dufus that I’ve pretty much stopped answering unless I’m expecting someone to call. God knows what it’ll be after the primaries and caucuses next Tuesday, when the campaigns have time to focus on the March primary states.
And the devil of it is that I still don’t know who I’m going to vote for. For the first time ever, mine could make a difference, but I don’t know who to endorse.
Both candidates have their good and bad sides. Hillary is a policy wonk who knows Washington inside out. Obama is a newcomer to Washington, a relative naïf.
Those are their strengths and weaknesses, in a nutshell.
One is very entrenched, and the other just got started digging one. I’m torn wondering how much difference trenches make. I’ve always been a staunch Clinton supporter, and I’d like to see the legacy live on. But then again, I’m enchanted by the idea of a fresh breeze blowing through the White House. Part of me thinks that it’s time to open all the windows and do a thorough house cleaning.
Maybe in the next month I’ll come to some peace about it all. Right now, I don’t know. I’m at all at sea.
I just keep hoping one of them will do something so stupid that it will make my decision easier. Given their records, I don’t think that will happen.
God is good and cruel at the same time. He gives two good candidates. Democrats around the country are both celebrating and gnashing their teeth.
It’s like “Sophie’s Choice”, only not filmed as well.
The Clear Light of Day
Those used to be buildings in the background. I lived in a couple of them years and years ago. And my niece lived in one until Tuesday night, when everything changed. An F-4 tornado changes a lot.
It's still all over the news, and W. was down to pay his belated condolences. They still haven't found my niece's car, and I have no idea how that's going to mess up insurance claims. If they don't have a car carcass, how long before it's legally dead?
The more I see, the more amazed I am that a densely populated compound could take a direct hit from a major tornado and not have any fatalities. As of this morning, all 51 kids taken to the hospital had been released but 2. Those two were still in critical condition and expected to recover.
I'm saying a special prayer that they do.
06 February 2008
Blow Hard
My undergraduate alma mater almost got wiped off the map last night. 80% of its dorms were either destroyed or severely damaged. The EF-4 tornado damaged or destroyed every building on campus, to one degree or another. And my niece was in the middle of it all.
My parents took custody of Morgan before she was a year old, so in some ways she’s more like the sister I don’t really know than the niece I don’t really know. We were raised by the same people in the same house. Mama thinks of her and her brother more like kids than grandkids. So did Daddy. They raised them and lived through all the trials that go with parenthood. (A ‘hood I have no intention of visiting.)
She’s ok, though. Just cuts, bruises and scrapes. She rode out the storm in the bathroom of her downstairs neighbors. She said that it got quiet, and then the walls started shaking. Then the roof came off, along with most of the second floor where she lived, and the water came pouring in.
Her car is missing. It got blown to God knows where. It was directly in the path, so it very well may be in the next county. I’m guessing she lost pretty much everything else. Mama drove down this morning to get her and take care of what they can, which isn’t much. They’re letting residents of a few building go in and retrieve what they can, but I she wasn’t in any of those. And I suppose that if she can find her car, she might or might not be able to get things out of it. Depends on the level of damage.
Tomorrow, she’ll get to go in with a police escort to the area where her room used to be. There’s no roof and some walls are missing. And since she was on the second floor, she will probably be able to get so far. The stairs or the landing could be unsafe, as well as the floors. Most likely, she’ll have to just look around in the yard and try to find something she recognizes.
God has a strange sense of humor. He does stuff like this to remind us of how fragile we are, of how tenuous our grasp on life is, of our physical mortality. In doing so, he wreaks havoc on our lives and takes everything we have. And then leaves us grateful to be alive.
Morgan is safe and sound. The future is uncertain, but it’s still there. What happens next week or the one after will work itself out in God’s good time.
For now, we give thanks for not-so-small miracles.
My parents took custody of Morgan before she was a year old, so in some ways she’s more like the sister I don’t really know than the niece I don’t really know. We were raised by the same people in the same house. Mama thinks of her and her brother more like kids than grandkids. So did Daddy. They raised them and lived through all the trials that go with parenthood. (A ‘hood I have no intention of visiting.)
She’s ok, though. Just cuts, bruises and scrapes. She rode out the storm in the bathroom of her downstairs neighbors. She said that it got quiet, and then the walls started shaking. Then the roof came off, along with most of the second floor where she lived, and the water came pouring in.
Her car is missing. It got blown to God knows where. It was directly in the path, so it very well may be in the next county. I’m guessing she lost pretty much everything else. Mama drove down this morning to get her and take care of what they can, which isn’t much. They’re letting residents of a few building go in and retrieve what they can, but I she wasn’t in any of those. And I suppose that if she can find her car, she might or might not be able to get things out of it. Depends on the level of damage.
Tomorrow, she’ll get to go in with a police escort to the area where her room used to be. There’s no roof and some walls are missing. And since she was on the second floor, she will probably be able to get so far. The stairs or the landing could be unsafe, as well as the floors. Most likely, she’ll have to just look around in the yard and try to find something she recognizes.
God has a strange sense of humor. He does stuff like this to remind us of how fragile we are, of how tenuous our grasp on life is, of our physical mortality. In doing so, he wreaks havoc on our lives and takes everything we have. And then leaves us grateful to be alive.
Morgan is safe and sound. The future is uncertain, but it’s still there. What happens next week or the one after will work itself out in God’s good time.
For now, we give thanks for not-so-small miracles.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)