Life Interrupted

In just under 14 months, we were hit with with major flooding and staring down the barrel at another storm that made last year's flood seem like a leaky faucet.  Last year's Irene/Lee event was the first large scale even since Tropical Storm Agnes hit our area 1972.

Last September's events taught us so much that we take for granted everyday can be lost our changed in an instant.  The only thing in the end that really matters are our family, friends and people in our lives. They cannot be replaced. 

The other thing it taught us was to be prepared.  I think both our elected officials, EMA and private citizens did their best to adhere to the warnings that were being posted and cooperated. If there was some good that came out of Irene/Lee, this could be it.  The memories are still fresh and some will never go away.

My event roughly lasted about 60 hours from preparing to move things on Saturday until I felt at ease this morning.  I also was hit with an expense of $1.40 for premium gas because the station was out of regular.

Although our local area came out of this even for the most part OK, we all know someone who was affected much worse.  The 8-year old boy wasn't so lucky.  We are all family. We are all friends. We are all neighbors and Americans.

We still have plenty of time to be political, but I want to leave with the thoughts of Dr. Robert Reich and our decision at hand next week:

Our decision will signal whether we believe we're all in this together -- not just in hurricanes but in everyday life -- or are mainly on our own; whether we're members of the same society in which we have obligations and responsibilities to one another, or we're simply occupants of the same economy in which we either succeed or fail by virtue of personal luck and effort, and the family we're born into

Stay safe everyone and prayers.