Just when I thought 2020 couldn't get any stranger, a hurricane blows all the way up from the gulf and plants a tree in my kitchen window. I remember another year, where a hurricane chased us home from our annual Gulf vacation...we saw sharks as big as boats right there at the dock in Panama City. No sea creatures this time, just a tired tree trying to push in my 118-year-old wall. About the time my daughter-in-law and I began to hear creaks and groans at the window (and herded the kids to another room), my son Jon lassoed that tree and wrestled it to the ground with his monster truck. We bought a generator, saved all my Covid-hoarded food and I moped through two nights of guilt as it lit up the neighborhood with its loud whining. Meanwhile, to either side of us, two different neighbors passed the weekend in the hospital. My son and husband labored like lumberjacks to clear the driveway. I wandered, cold, around the house, until I decided to paint the camper. There's millions of pecans waiting for me in the yard, but I have my priorities.
I thought about the year 1902, when our house was built. There are five coal-burning fireplaces inside it, but that's not happening now. As the evening light faded and the candles were extinguished, the peace and quiet of the night and of the street struck me. We have exchanged a lot of things -- hard work for conveniences, quiet for never-ending noise, and peace for the flood of knowledge crowding our brains 24/7. I don't know if I'd want to go back to where we actually had to work for our food...it seems that your whole life would be preoccupied with simple survival (and a short life at that). But I could sure do with some peace from all the storms that are swirling around us today.
There's an election today...I just left the polls seeing worried faces everywhere, from both sides of the aisle. I have my convictions and concerns, but so do they. I say we turn off the news, grab our neighbors' hands, and sing Kum-bah-yah tonight. How about it?!
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