Day 47 ❦ Give and regain a sense of “normalcy”

Day 47 ❦ Give and regain a sense of “normalcy”

The Gift: All of the change in the bottom of my purse dumped into the March of Dimes container

It has been several days since I have written about the aftermath of the floods and the damage that we are seeing as the flood waters recede. Everywhere in town, there are piles of household goods, furniture, yard waste, carpets, drywall - everything and anything. The piles are being cleaned up daily, but they reemerge the next day. This weekend there will be a focused volunteer effort on cleaning homes and people are arriving from all over the midwest. It will be quite a sight and certainly a welcome relief - fatigue is thick in the air.

We are all tired especially knowing how much more there is to do before the weather turns very cold and it becomes even more difficult to do relief work. My husband has been spending hours with people who have lost everything and providing counseling to some of the relief workers too. While the flood waters covered the area it was easier to comprehend that we were under a state of emergency, but now as people can move around town and debris is removed, it is becoming more and more difficult to remember the devastation, yet the fatigue remains, the grief is beginning and there is much work yet to be done.

I am finding myself clinging onto anything that resembles “normalcy” and so when I am standing in line at the grocery store and I see the March of Dimes donation box I smile, thinking back to a time that seems so long ago now, when Shannon asked the clerk about what the March of Dimes was and she so gladly gave. It seems so normal to dump out my purse and put all of the change from the bottom into the donation box.

❦ Give and regain a sense of “normalcy