It is really hard to know what to do, but one thing is for sure, panic is contagious. When you see your neighbors moving out and hear all of "the talk" around town, it is really hard not to just call up your friends and MOVE OUT. TODAY. And then you look around, and the tomato plants need watered, and the ditch is BONE DRY, and reality hits you. There's not a stitch of water here yet. Of course by the time you're ankle deep in it, it's really too late to do much. So that is the predicament we find ourselves in--how much to do now because later we might not be able to do it.
On facebook today, I posted "Packing. <sigh>" and received numerous phone calls from people wanting to know if they could come help. So let me clarify. I packed a total of 3 rubbermaid tubs--all with my scrapbooks and photo albums and stuff like that. Between that and the tax records, and the kids' school log books, that pretty much sums up the irreplaceables. Well, you know, besides the husband and kids.
Beyond that packing, I went around from room to room sticking colored post-it notes on everything--different colors meaning different things. This is in preparation to evacuate IF the time comes. I don't want there to be any question as to what stuff goes upstairs, and what goes out to higher ground (in town). In short, valuables go out. Stuff that would make a huge mess if it got wet (like the contents of the pantry and our school books) go up. For example:
As in this photo, sometime the contents and the container have two different destinies. My kitchen looks all polka-dotted with different colored post-its everywhere. Dustin came in, looked around, told me I was going crazy and said I needed to get outside for some fresh air. So I went out and tilled a little in the garden. YES, I'm serious. NO, I am not going crazy. And if this whole flood thing blows over and I have boxes of tomatoes to give away this summer, some of you are going to thank me for tilling today!
With all of this flood-talk (and post-it notes) at our house, apparently Brooklyn no longer wants to leave the house without her Barbies. We just went into town for a few things today, but she refused to leave them at home for fear the flood might come while we're gone. She wasn't scared or anything, just wasn't going to take any chances.
And of course since we were out and about, I had to get a picture of the railroad guys in Bigelow--our new human railroad crossing arms. Poor guys. And to make matters worse, it was raining on them some today. See, I told you I was serious.
How are we holding up? Pretty good, but it does seem like we live in two different worlds. In the one world, we're practically going through a drought. In the other, visions of my home being invaded by 6-8 feet of water keep creeping in. And I have to live in the one, but prepare for the other. It is all very surreal.
One thing is for sure, all of this stuff is really just...stuff. And I refuse to get just too worked up about stuff. A good friend shared a verse with me this morning that is very fitting in this regard...
2 Corinthians 4:18...So we do not look at what we can see right now, the troubles all around us, but we look forward to the joys in heaven which we have not yet seen. The troubles will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.
And although it is extremely easy to get completely wrapped up in all of this, we know that there is a bigger picture, one that does not revolve around us or our circumstances. Let us not become so narrow minded to think that the only thing that matters is the here and now...and all of my stuff.
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