Let me tell you,
I am far from the Pollyanna, everything will be A-OK, optimist, but for all of my life, I’ve been looking for that silver lining. In my adult life, I’ve always practiced gratitude, and looking back, I know perseverance has been my motto. But the one thing I know, (and bare with me, it’s cliché), is that LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED.
The research I’ve done for my book, and the people I’ve talked to, have given me so much hope for the future. Through everything people have been through, through all the devastation and loss, there has been one common denominator and that is, LOVE.
Call it what you want, compassion, empathy, faith, help, giving back,……. it’s all love. Without love, you cannot possess any of the previous feelings or actions. When I bore witness to the human aspect of the aftermath of our community’s ordeal, I felt the love in every stranger. It’s hard to put into words!
Today, it’s still there. After a while, you have to look harder for it. Some folks are having more than a hard time moving forward. Let’s be honest, it’s down right paralyzing for some. But if you dig deeper, (like I have), the love it out there.
A group called, “Camp Noah,” I hear, is coming to Lake County for the children. It’s an organization that helps kids deal after a disaster. They are based out of Minnesota, but have been to places such as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, because children feel stress too. With all our adult problems of having to relocate, find a way to make our family’s lives as normal as possible, kids are in the background, stressing in their own way. Go to lssmn.org/camp_noah for more information. I believe it’s a great idea.
I’ve talked to so many folks, and recently, I’ve found that some people almost feel abandoned. Like, “the world is moving on without them.” Once things are no longer in the forefront of the media, and others that have not experienced the first hand trauma, have gone on with normal life, the ones that went through terrible loss are feeling forsaken. How can everyone just move on?
Well, rest assured, that some that appear to have moved forward are just now feeling the stress. Everyone deals with these things at their own pace, and I believe, just like any kind of mourning, we need to allow folks to come around to it in their own time. And if you are one of the people out there feeling forsaken, try looking for support through friends and neighbors. They are out there believe me!
My friend April, put it more eloquently than I think she even knew. We were at lunch and she told me about running into friends that were her neighbors up on Cobb Mountain. She’s since moved her and her daughter into a home in Hidden Valley because they had lost their family home, something that was passed on from generations. She recollected how it struck her, seeing these people, after all these months that they would never be her neighbors again! How she’d always assumed they’d be right next door and they’d share a friendship of family memories forever! But that was robbed of her the day the Valley Fire relocated her! They weren’t given a choice! These kinds of things are still very fresh and raw.
I was told of a website from a local Middletown woman. She runs a coffee house on Main Street in Middletown, and has a fun and upbeat blog called, Coffee Keeps Me Grounded. Please, look it up and read of Stephanie Diehl’s local life. Her recent blog will let you know, that even those who seem perfectly great on the surface, can be working like a mad dog underneath. She and her family were affected by this fire as well. It’s a good read.
We are all needing love. Not just right now, but try to let these unthinkable circumstances remind us of the fact that, at any given time, someone we know, or don’t know but come in contact with, can be fighting an uphill battle. I know that just lending a hand, giving a smile, or a kind word, can mean all the difference to someone in need. The way we behave in tragic times can show character of who we really are. But even months, or years later, let it be a reminder to us to always show love.
I am leaving you with one last piece of recommendation of a girl who has put together a picture book. Now, I warn you, the photos are of the fire! But as my beautiful friend April told me, she purchased it not for herself, but for her future grandkids, because it occurred to her, that she no longer had anything to hand down from the family. This book was proof to her future grandchildren, of hers and their mother’s stoic, perseverance, that they did in fact, lose everything, but love moved them forward to build a great life anyway! You can find it by Googling the photographer, Tenaya Fleckenstein. She did a great job!
In closing, listen to Martina McBride’s song, Anyway!
It will lift you up! Good night, and God Bless!
