Monday, November 19, 2012
Cara: Oh...hi!
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Cara 
Hello? Is there anyone out there? Is this thing on? I know we took a break. A looooong break. Longer than a month now I see as I look at our last post. That's the longest I think we ever took a break.
For me one day I was happily pumpkin-ing myself within an inch of my life then the world stood still...and here we are.
Hurricane Sandy or Superstorm Sandy I don't know what they are calling it this week, ripped through our island and the world, at least our piece of it stood still.
Thankfully Mayberry got through it, though for some a longer battle than others. My neighborhood was ok, but friends and friends of friends had their homes flooded or damaged and were displaced for quite awhile and some can't even go home yet. My beloved Mayberry beach, where my kids have always played, where I can go to just be if life is kicking my ass, where we do "Monday night at the beach" has taken quite a beating. We are not allowed to even go down there or we will get a fine. That makes me very sad. (as well as most of our ocean beaches...this is going to be a hard summer to come I think) My hometown, where I grew up, the one that can't stop having reunions was hit real hard. I still can't talk about it without getting choked up. The relief effort there is ongoing and I have been trying to do some things to help. I have some guilt too I think, not having been hit hard and a feeling of I don't know, responsibility to help.
But the few weeks following Sandy, it was all about helping, rebuilding, opening my home to people that needed it, be it a place to sleep or a hot shower. Halloween was an afterthought, had it not been for the kids and my parent friends and I trying to give them a little normal after so many days out of school, I would have packed up my pumpkins and called it a day.
Facebook wasn't about fun quotes or silly pictures. It was all about passing along information be it on school closings, where to donate or where you could get gas. (don't even get me started on the gas thing...)
But for most life goes back to normal. For me, my normal makes me feel a little guilty. I still switch to a whisper when someone asks me how I made out in the storm and I say we were ok, we were lucky.
But when I looked up Halloween was over, school was back in session and talk turned to the Holidays. Just ask this app on my phone that goes off every morning taunting me on how many days til Christmas. ( I was hating it a few weeks ago now it's ok)
I'm in full Thanksgiving mode now this week. Hence the reason I am up at 5:00 and off and running for the day. I am making a conscious effort not to complain about all there is to do and this week is shaping up to be a doosy. Even after we've eaten turkey sandwiches for lunch.
Looking around me I truly know this year how grateful I am, for all that I have, the people I love and how by the grace of God we were lucky enough to get through that storm, and now can do what we can to help our neighbors.
I wish you a grace filled Thanksgiving. I wish you the time this holiday to find a moment between the turkey, the fun and the shopping to look around and be grateful. The craziness, the noise, the waking up at 4:30 cause your to do list is ticking in your head is all because you are fortunate. Fortunate to have kids to make you nuts, your health to be able to volunteer and do, do, do, or a job to go that exhausts you, a house to have to clean and re-clean as hoards of family and friends come through it. Fortunate enough to have a long list of things to be grateful for if you think about it.
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