SURVIVING FLORENCE

After living in a flood zone for over 12 years, my husband and I made the difficult decision to evacuate when faced with the impending arrival of Hurricane Florence.   We had ridden out Irene and Matthew, but the warning for Florence was different.  I could physically feel the fear and my family kept chanting: GO!  Go now!  Leave!  The county had issued a mandatory evacuation which only means that you are on your own if you need help.  

As we prepared to leave, I moved the 15 scrapbooks I had made for my "grand"son for his graduation from college, the three scrapbooks I made of the graduation trips I had given to my two nieces and nephew; photos of my late son, brother and sister to the room over the garage.  I looked around at this room that seemed to be the Museum of my Life:  a wall of my "grand"son's achievements; photos of his high school and college graduation; the painting my niece did of Democrats for Hillary and Obama during the 2008 primary campaign; theatre posters; my award for community service and one for visionary leadership (haha).  It was so emotional  to think that I could lose all this and much, much more.  I didn't care about the furniture or clothes, but this was my life and when you reach a certain age, memories are so vital to who you are and the time you have left in this crazy world.

We locked up the house and left in the wee morning hour of 5:00am headed to safety, my sister's home in Virginia.  For almost a week, we had no idea what we would be returning to.  Then a very kind and good person contacted us to tell us we were one of the lucky homeowners.  For the most part, we had very little damage.  About two feet of flood waters had gotten into the garage, debris covered our yard, deck and porch and our neighborhood looked like a war zone, but we had a house to come home to.

Two things I would like to point out during this period.  I love my sister, but she and her husband are Trumpers so we tried to be good guests, never speaking of politics and never watching cable news (fake news to them).  

So that left me with Facebook which is not the best place to get news, fake or otherwise. And this brings me to my second point. I live in a deep red southern state.  I was warned by friends,  "don't move there."  I left an area that was open minded, diverse and very liberal to a place that lives in the past, still fighting the Civil War (excuse me, they call it the War Between the States).  Give me a break.  But as a teen I had started a love affair with North Carolina, visiting UNC Chapel Hill and a family that I thought was perfect (it wasn't, but I was young and impressionable).  When retirement came, I thought, finally I can make the move to what had become a utopia in my mind.  Like so much in life, be careful what you wish for...  The irony in all this is I moved from a small town in Pennsylvania that was a Republican stronghold, right after my high school graduation back in the sixties.  How Republican was it?  Put a poodle as a candidate for dog catcher with an (R) beside it and it would win, hands down.

My point about getting news from Facebook is most of it is opinion and with my having too much time on my hands, I was overly sensitive about news of the hurricane; the not knowing was making me a wreck.  But the post that almost set my hair on fire was the one about judging those who evacuated and those who stayed.  Someone wrote a rambling dissertation about the ones  who evacuated were being seen as  "entitled."  Oh, dear lord, we are senior citizens that went to stay with family.  Even our dog is a senior dog who was filled with anxiety and I had to clean up after him several times and I began to feel like stinking dead fish after three days.  It had nothing to do with my sister, it is just the way I felt.  I have an aging husband  who is having a difficult  time with his short term memory and critical thinking; we were anxious and nervous; impatient to return to our own beds and life.  Now I am considered "entitled."  My husband is still working at a part-time job to subsidize our social security and a small pension.  STFU!

Those who stayed had no other choice even if it was a mandatory evacuation so don't judge them, but judge the ones who left.  I live in a retirement area where many were too old or too sick to leave.  I heard one story where a man died during the storm and his wife  sat with him for two days before she could be rescued.  Truthful, I don't know. It is quite possible that this story is true.  Several families in this area were rescued from their roof tops.  My only concern about those who stayed was for their safety and the safety of anyone who might have to rescue them should it become necessary.  There was so much more to be worried about; the destruction and devastation was overwhelming but they wanted to preach about judging who left and who didn't.  Why in Heaven's name was it  necessary to draw attention to a short-term problem that was more opinion than fact and only made a horrible situation worse.  Apparently, addressing something that was a molehill and that only causes division by pitting people against one another was worth it.  Guess, they must be taking their cues from the idiot in the White House.

I'll bring this full circle with my opinion about what I have seen and endured as a Yankee living in the south.  No matter how long you live in the south, if you were born above the Mason-Dixon line, you will never really be accepted.  And if you try to fit in, they will take advantage of your naivete; your enthusiasm and will "bless your heart" with every donation you make, but when push comes to shove, instead of supporting you or being a friend, they will throw you out like yesterday's newspaper.  The mentality in this little town is native born vs newcomers.  One of my "grand"son's friend's father called us Yankees.  He was reminded that my husband was born and bred in Virginia.  His reply:  "Anyone from north of North Carolina is a Yankee."  The truth is that the influx of retirees and tourists is what brings the majority of revenue.   The town relies on the retirees and tourists to spend money.  So maybe this is what pisses them off.  There are some natives who have nice chunks of change, but they are a small percentage.  The reality is that there are many living in poverty here.    They really don't want transplants, but they need us for tax revenue and to bring money into the town.  Of course, I am speaking in general terms.  There may be a few who don't feel this way...one or two?

When the media was here covering the flood, people were upset that they were televising the misery of the town.  Someone wrote on Facebook that people should not be taking photos of the flooding and the destruction...to please respect those who have lost so much...  Now there are Facebook posts commenting negatively on how the media is no where to be seen after the initial reporting of the hurricane.  So what exactly do they want.  I'm confused!       

But I digress.  After 11 days of evacuation, we returned home.  Yes, we were lucky, but we did lose a car that we had in our garage. A car that has great sentimental value to me, was totaled from the flood water and pretty much everything that was on the floor of the garage had to be thrown out; a new lawnmower, etc.  Debris from the flood was all over the yard; the siding was covered with dirt, pine needles and leaves: we had a leak from the roof that came through the kitchen. We have had to deal with three different insurance policies.  Here in the lowlands, you have to have hazard, flood plus wind, rain and hail policies so we are dealing with a multitude of people.  Even though, we have very little to complain about, our lives have been thrown into a state of limbo, a little chaos and uncertainty.  I want to help those who so desperately need help, but I have no vehicle during the week and I am concerned about how much money we are going to need to replace what we lost and fix what is broken.  It is going to take a long time to get back to normal.

Now that everyone is in recovery mode, I get updates all day on the cleanup, donations, housing for the homeless, re-openings of businesses, donations that are needed, etc., etc.  Along with these updates, people will make positive and negative comments about anything and everything.  So many people have had to throw out so many things that they cared about.  Curbs are overflowing with furniture, lawnmowers, power washers, clothes, memorabilia, photos.  In some cases, almost the entire house is sitting on the curb to be taken to the dump.  This type of situation brings in the scavengers.  As the scavengers sift through the articles, the owners become furious that strangers are being so callous about their loss.  A young man saw a plastic  tub that we had put out as garbage, he asked my husband if he could have it.  Since it was holding flood ravaged books and other miscellaneous items, my husband had to say no.  If someone wants your "junk"(what you don't want), this is what people should do, ASK!  The other side of this issue is if you don't want it, shouldn't you be somewhat happy that someone else can use it.  A few people have chased the scavengers off with a rifle. By the way, the law says if it is at your curb, it is not stealing if someone takes your garbage/junk.   Just sayin...  

Several people commented on their outrage over these scavengers, one person actually laid the blame on Damn Yankees ~ "it's those Damn Yankees!"  Yeah, well lots of Damn Yankees have been sending donations, lineman and volunteers to help. A truck loaded with donations from Erie, PA (Damn Yankee land) came just a few days ago.  

 Thank you to the Rotary Club for this gracious acknowledgement!     

 A few friends have thought that maybe since we came through this hurricane, it was a sign that we were meant to stay here, a town that was voted "most charming small town in North Carolina."  But as we all know, looks can be deceiving and the charm here is only skin deep.  I stopped wearing my rose colored glasses a long time ago.  If I could, I would move in a heartbeat, but I don't think too many people are going to be interested in buying a house in a flood ravaged area, not for awhile anyway. Living blue in a red area is not fun. 

It felt good to vent.  Cathartic.  Maybe I'm just a little overly sensitive. 

All I can do right now is take live a day at time; try to get back to normal; have a little fun and watch cable news and curse like a truck driver at the idiot in chief and his Rethug goons; hoping that a BLUE TSUNAMI comes in November.  I got through Hurricane Florence, so let the Blue Tsunami hit the voting booth! 

VOTE BLUE!