Hanging by a Moment

~Lifehouse

I took some video of our area, yesterday, while Jackie and I were out. It’s truly hard to comprehend the sheer magnitude of devastation all around us. I battle my own feelings of guilt, because I can’t understand why or how I’ve always managed to be one of the “lucky ones”. I’m no better than my neighbors. I’m no more important. I’m not special. It’s so random, and cruel, the way Mother Nature can indiscriminately destroy homes and businesses. It’s beyond unfair, to think of the lives lost, in a matter of seconds. It hit me, yesterday, as I realized it was just about to be 24 hours since we’d been struck with these tornado outbreaks… There were families who were losing loved ones, losing all their possessions, their homes, their businesses, at that very moment just 24 hours earlier. Two of the deaths were children. A 10 year old, and a 2 year old. The others were adults. There are people who probably had Christmas gifts stashed away somewhere, meant for those who were taken, that will never get to be opened by them. There are hundreds of families who no longer have a home to celebrate the holidays in. There are still tens of thousands of families without power. It’s cold as hell outside. Again, I’m one of the fortunate ones, because I not only have a warm place to go wait out this chaos, but we also have a generator to power some electric heaters inside our home, keeping it warm enough for our pets and to protect our pipes.

Adam and I slept in our bed, last night. We had two dogs and two cats curled up on and around us. It was plenty cozy. It’s not “warm”, inside, but I’ve had the generator off for several hours and the inside temperature is holding steady at 58 degrees. Our kids slept at Justin and Jackie’s place. Adam went into work, this morning. I’m fixing to head over to Justin and Jackie’s, so I can get something to eat and check on my kiddos. I’m holding out hope that our power might still come back on, sometime today. It’s hard to venture a guess on how much longer we will have to wait, though.

It’s my birthday, today. I’ve got no cause to complain at all. I have all of my people, safe and sound. I still have my home, my pets, and my health. It’s not exactly how I imagined spending my birthday, this year, but that’s okay. I have many blessings to count, today. The sun is shining. It’s only just about at freezing temperatures, outside, but the sunshine is nice. I’m going to go make myself and my babies something to eat, in Jackie’s kitchen. Although I’m grateful for the gracious hosts they’ve been to us all, I am so anxious to be able to get everyone back home, and back to our “normal” again. In the meantime, I’ll continue to celebrate the enormous, yet undeserved, gifts I’ve been given. All of the people and things that matter to me are still here, and that’s the best birthday present I could’ve ever asked for. I really need to remember to appreciate all of the gifts I regularly take for granted. My family and friends. My health. My home. These things that I forget to appreciate as often as I should. They are what truly ever matters. The gifts I’ve got stashed away, for my family, mean nothing without the family I’m blessed to give them to. Miracles happen all around us, everyday. It’s just too easy to ignore them, because we grow to simply expect them. We assume we will lay our head down on our own pillows tonight, next to someone we love. We assume we’ll hug our babies again. We assume we’ll all wake up, when the next morning comes. For every single one of us, there will come a day that all changes, though. We can’t predict when, or how. We can’t know why. All we can do, is appreciate this moment, right now.