It’s been a week.
It’s been a week since they announced an e-learning day, just one, for schools because of the coming Hurricane. It’s been a week since we shifted and sent computers home with students anticipating they had enough charge for one day of work since we would be back in the classroom on Monday. It’s been a week since we planned on hunkering down and getting out puzzles to wait out the storm.
It’s been a week.
On Friday, we waited and watched as the much stronger winds than we anticipated cracked trees. The sound of the cracking trees and telephone poles is something I won’t ever forget. As soon as we heard the song, we rushed the kids to the middle of the house, the safest part of the house to wait to see which tree fell and where. We watched as trees fell on neighbors’ houses and watched and waited hoping they would come out. We lost connection to family and loved ones as internet and cell connection completely disappeared. We woke up the next morning to a completely different reality with homes and businesses beyond repair where we tried to traverse roads that had power lines, transformers, and power poles strewn across them to check on family members who we lost connection to.
It’s been a week.
And we know that we weren’t the worst hit by this storm. Days later, images and videos finally start to come through from Western North Carolina and East Tennessee where the devastation and destruction was even worse. Whole towns and communities were washed away. So many missing. So much devastation and destruction.
Our hearts ache as we hear the stories and see the images coming through. It’s too much to process because there is still so much that we need to tend to. We are tending to those we love. We are tending to those without food. We are washing clothes and cooking food for those who still don’t have power.
But when our hearts ache, we know that our hearts are still tender. They are open to feeling the hurt and pain of other people. We are open to caring for others and listening to their stories about how they weathered the storm. When our hearts ache, we connect to each other as we grieve what was and what will never be the same again. When our hearts ache, we depend on each other and start seeking stories of hope.
When our hearts ache after a week like this one, we know that we are not alone and slowly, but surely we can tend to that aching as we care and help each other.