In the days that followed what will likely be known as the Great Flood of 2011, as an observer of life, naturally, I am observing, and basking in what I've seen.
The resiliency of this community is astounding to me. I see those with the least reaching out to help those who have nothing. I've seen the best and worst.
I've heard stories of looters, and heroes, and, of course, Petco. Let's not go to the Petco just yet. In fact, I may reserve that for another blog, and I expect you'll see a follow-up on that on my Examiner page.
I've seen tragedy. In fact, I've probably seen more than most people will ever see, at least on a personal basis. Do I want you to feel sorry for me? No, I do not. I'd like you to buy my book, and those yet to be published, but I don't need sympathy.
In fact, I'm proud of my survival skills, and I'm happy to put them to good use in problem solving, and especially when given the opportunity to help someone else.
A friend told me something interesting today, and if this isn't putting a positive spin on something negative, I don't know what is. Her basement flooded. In fact, I know it did, because while it's been hoed out by some of the finest people I've ever met, I can still smell it. It smells bad, but she knows this, so I won't point it out. It smells worse than my Sunflower perfume, but slightly better than the garbage can on the patio, two days after I deposit fifteen pounds of dog shit in it. This smell is somewhere in between.
And while the smell remains, so does the gratitude, and a lot of people might find this odd, but I don't. I think if you can stand in three feet of river water in your basement and find something to be grateful for, you've got damn good character. If you're this kind of person, I want to hang out with you.
Come over!
I'll make margaritas, and we'll chat about how much worse things could be, and not to be fatalists, but to be damn glad we've got each other, our meager belongings, a damn good blender, and a local store that sells margarita salt. You're a good egg, my friend, and you know who you are.
So, anyway......
Getting back to the silver lining. A pile of flooded belongings can be a trip down memory lane, and it proved such for my good friend. Soggy boxes yielded memories of days gone by, an opportunity to laugh, and reminisce.
I too found a silver lining in this past week's disaster. Despite the fact that I evacuated six months early, and not because I'm wicked proactive, or own a magic Almanac, but because I've got my own cross to bear, I found comfort in being safe and out of the water's way. I found comfort in the fact that I found myself useful to someone in need. I was proud to care and empathize with those who had lost so much, and still found the ability to reach for the hand of a friend who had less.
I was royally ticked at Petco, but again, we'll come back to that. I was also royally ticked at the whiners, who cannot for a moment emphathize with another, because they're so wrapped up in their own self misery.
Set it aside for a minute folks, and grab a bucket. Someone could use your help bailing out. I don't particularly want to hear you bitch because you don't have cable. Things could be worse! You could have ten feet of water in your house, or be a hamster at Petco.
Shut up!
So, in addition to the horrible and wonderful things I've seen this week, I am pretty sure I found a way to fix our current administration.
I don't think we need to vote for another president. I think we need to let the pack assembled at Cup-A-Jo this past Saturday, run the country. We won't have a president. We'll have a bunch of presidents, and we'll have really good coffee. In fact, I'm having some now, and when I'm done, I'm gonna figure out how to get a group on the ballot.
We don't have a white house here, but we have a white fence. We don't have an oval office, but we could get some room dividers, set 'em up just right, and make an oval space. We won't need to spend two-thousand bucks on toilets, because if ours breaks, we'll just get Don to fix it.
Sometimes it doesn't need to be as complex as we make it. If you've got water in your basement, get a bucket, a few friends, some sandwiches and curly fries from Arby's, put a pot of coffee on, and get the shit out! We didn't need to take a majority vote, we just did it. We didn't need to be politically correct, because frankly, I'm not necessarily PC, and Don sure isn't, but we got shit done anyway.
The clothes were wet, so Sue washed them. There was water on the floor, so Chuck got it with a ShopVac. He didn't go ten days over deadline trying to figure out who was to blame for the seepage, he just vacuumed it up.
Elana, our smallest warrior, kept everyone in check, and she'll be our Junior President, or a Prez-in-training, but anyone who has kids, has been around kids, or watches Kate Plus Eight, knows that kids run shit anyway. So, Elana will be running the country, and I'm okay with this. We'll just drive her around, because she's only ten and can't see over the steering wheel yet.
Amy got cut, so she put a bandage on, and went back to work. She didn't need to get a committee to figure out how she got cut, and if there was someone who needed to be sued, or a product that needed to be recalled. She got cut, she washed it off, got a dinosaur bandaid and went back to work.
Sometimes we just need to fix problems the old fashioned way. Bail the water out, get a snack, a cup of coffee, and move on. The water rose, but so did we, and so did so many others in this trying time.
So, that's what I learned this past week. What did you learn? Did you learn to be better, more prepared, kinder? Did you learn to shop locally, where someone with a kayak will rescue a lizard, instead of letting it drown, and then blaming it on the Mayor? I know, I wasn't going there, but it was just for a moment, and I couldn't help it.
Any of those will serve you well. Also, when the water rises, it's good to have a friend whose hand you can hold, or someone who needs you to hold them up. It's also good to have a sense of humor, some batteries, instant coffee, a big heart, and a canoe.
Your life is never empty if your soul is full.
Mine is.
Back later with more.........
And Petco.
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