Today is my dad's birthday. Tomorrow is our anniversary (the eloping, not the wedding).
Suffice it to say, no one's in much of a celebratory mood. So, when we found out that the Shoney's near us was open, we called Mom and Dad and asked them to let us take them to dinner.
This was my first real look at what's going on beyond our street. As per usual for a hurricane, there are piles and piles of tree limbs along the sides of the road waiting for pick up. Because our area is one of the very few with power, people from all over the county have come here to find the 3 nearby gas stations. There are lines down Davie road for blocks and blocks to get the limit of twenty dollars worth of gas.
There are several buildings in the area with tarps over what's left of their roofs. Huge trees knocked down. Very little green left above knee-level on the trees that are still up.
The waitress we had at Shoney's explained that they weren't serving anything on the menu. All they had was the All-You-Can-Eat bar. My Mom smiled and told her that was just fine. She explained that she didn't have a roof anymore, and the waitress said, "Me too."
Of everything we overheard, what hit me hardest was the woman near me in the line for the hot food bar explaining into her cell phone that the estimate she was given for getting her power back was November 21. The staff was busy trying to keep the food coming for the food bar alone, and one waitress explained to Steve that because the delivery trucks can't get to them, they'd had to send staff down to pick up more food on three different occassions today. I didn't want to leave a tip. I wanted to award medals. Not one of these people were rude or unpleasant. They looked tired and over-worked, but they smiled and just kept going. Even the customers. Thought for sure there should be fights over the last piece of chicken, etc, but they just shrugged and waited for the next round to come out of the kitchen. Guess we were all just grateful that it was there.
Mom and Dad got a tarp put over their roof today. Made sure they came back here to get hot showers before dinner. The Red Cross has been stopping by their little mobile home community with water, ice, and hot meals.
And we're in for the night now. Curfew's in half an hour. :)
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During a flood, a man was besieged in his house while waters rose all around him. He couldn't swim, so he moved the the second story of his house. A rescue boat arrived, but he refused it, saying "The Lord will take care of me." The waters continued to rise, so the man went to his attic. A second boat arrived, but again, the man refused, saying, "the Lord will take care of me." Finally, the waters continued to rise, and the man was standing on the highest point on his peaked roof. A rescue helicopter dropped a rope ladder, but he waved it off, saying, "the Lord will take care of me." The waters rose some more, and the man drowned. In heaven, in his audience with God, he said, "Lord, I was a pious man on Earth. I believed in you. Why didn't you take care of me?"
To which the Lord replied, "What are you talking about? I sent you two boats and a helicopter!"
--Sean
Alas, not only have I heard this one, but I've been telling it since I was a kid. :P
Thank you, Sean!
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