Thankful

I woke up this morning feeling very overwhelmed, and grateful for all of you. I launched this website and blog two weeks ago and so many of you have read it and signed up to follow me. I am touched (and surprised) with all the comments and the interest you have shown in my "Latest Adventures". Please reach out to me anytime if there is a place you want me to check out or if you find an interesting story I can tell. I want to be "in this" together.

I am sitting outside while I am writing this. We are having an unusually cool day for almost the middle of August. It is very calm, quiet, and almost surreal. Extremely peaceful. I lit the gas firepit (and I didn't blow my head off) to take the chill out of the air while running through the random thoughts in my head.

A little over a week ago Mother Nature was much more angry then she is today. A tremendous storm blew through our city and most of eastern Nebraska. Winds as high as 83 miles an hour swept through our neighborhoods tearing trees right out of the ground and throwing debris and limbs everywhere. Shingles were ripped off houses and several boat lifts were destroyed. Trees fell on rooftops and destroyed homes. Some people experienced power outages for days.

The next morning I walked aimlessly around my house - literally not knowing what to do. We didn't have power so no internet, TV, radio, and I couldn't open the garage door to get my truck out. I didn't open the freezers or the refrigerator for fear that everything would start melting. I walked into the bathroom a dozen times and switched on the light each time until I screamed at myself - IT DOESN'T WORK!!! Slowly, I made my way outdoors and started cleaning up the mess. We had it much better than most so I was thankful for that.

I am a firm believer that good comes out of bad. I witnessed time and time again neighbors helping neighbors. Someone cleaned up our dock and took our shredded canopy off our boat lift. Others loaned us a generator and cordless phone chargers. We had numerous phone calls and offers for help even though their homes needed attention as well. Our damage was very minimal compared to many others. Eventually when I could drive through the neighborhood, I witnessed people helping each other move trees and limbs, take debris out of the lake, help people locate missing outdoor furniture, and actually find the owners of some runaway jet skis. It was quite the sight to see and the kindness of people constantly amazes me.

In time, things will return to normal and everyone will go on with their lives .....but I will always be grateful for my community of neighbors, and wonderful friends.

We are constantly reminded that we are not in charge of what happens - and Mother Nature needs to chill for awhile!

Remember.... Be grateful.

Until we talk again........