UPI:Rob Hodson
Saturday, August 27th:
As I sit here with no electricity, rain swirling around our home and winds whipping the trees to and fro, I know we will be just fine. There is a peace to all of this. After three days of preparations for hurricane Irene, she stormed into town right on schedule. I had forgotten the furry of a hurricane but I have not forgotten my ability to make it through tough times.
Maybe the past thirteen years with ra has made me stronger. Maybe the constant adjusting to not knowing what one will wake up to in the morning has prepared me well for mother nature's fury. It is all uncertain anymore and adding hurricane Irene to the mix may be a bit more of a challenge but one I know I have been preparing for thirteen years.
I don't miss the electricity (well not yet anyway) as it gives me the chance to hear nature in a tantrum. I have opened my bedroom window to not only let in a cool breeze but to also bring in the sounds of the tail end of Irene. She whooshes through the world like she owns the place (kinda reminds me of ra), stopping everyone in their tracks until she is done. She has thrown branches and debris everywhere but no major damage that I can spy from my safe harbor. It is true I am more confident now that she is leaving town but I pray she is merciful on folks up north.
Northerners tend to want things ready and able and they don't fair well with ladies like Irene. I know, this is how I was before ra. I wanted everything in working order including my own body. Oh well, fate had something different in mind for me.
I have not only survived my ra and Irene as well but I am thriving now. I am stronger, more confident that I can handle the toughest situations and come out with a smile on my face. And even if fear may creep in to take a peek every once in awhile, I have my tool kit ready. A tool kit filled with lots of handy dandy things to help me with not just Irene but my ra.
Yes, I have made it through yet another hurricane (this is my second so far) and I know that I will also make it through the years ahead with my ra. I am stronger, more adaptable and more confident in my ability to continue on.
Farewell Irene. Please be kind and go gently on your way.
11 comments:
Glad to hear you came out of the Hurricane in good condition! Passed the link to your blog on to my family and friends as well as my Parga's Junkyard facebook readers!
Coronaryrn...thank you for your post. We just got everything back online today (five days after the storm). Poor folks up north still have it rough with all of that flooding. I have family and friends spread up and down the east coast and I have to say, I prefer when the worry stays closer to home. At least I know immediately what is going on.
I've been lucky enough never to have personally experienced a hurricane, but I sure watched it on the TV news in fascination. I'm glad to learn that you rode the monster out in style and without harm or injury. You're right, I think, that living with the pain and disability of RA makes a person stronger. (...though becoming stronger some other way might be nice, eh?)
Take good care of yourself, now. I hope this finds you feeling great, Deb.
Glad you made it through Irene ok. I have been in one hurricane, it was only a category 1, don't know if that counts as a real one or not. lol We have tornadoes here. With them there is always an eerie calm after the storm passes.
Deb, I love the way you worded this post. I also love that you made it through Irene just as strong as you are making it through RA. It's funny how ones strength keeps building and building. I hope the clean up is not too rough. Did your joints feel the effects of the hurricane?
Wren...yes, I do wish we could have become stronger perhaps a different way but that I can not change. I can only change how I react to my health and what it deals me (well I can be proactive on healthy eating and exercising when I can). I have found that no matter where I have lived there seems to always be mother nature lurking about in one form or another.
Tharr...with hurricane Hugo came a tornado upon our house. That is what did us in during that hurricane. They sound like a train roaring over you when they hit and are quick. Hurricanes are slow, slow, slow. And a Cat 1 is still a hurricane in my book. Look what the Cat 1 of Irene did up north.
Cathy...for some odd reason my joints felt better during the storm and I was grateful for that because of the stress of the storm and waiting it out. The weather here has been so beautiful and my joints are feeling better. I don't have that vice feeling hanging on every single joint like I normally do and for that I am grateful. I am going to try and enjoy whatever reprieve I get and whenever I get it.
Deb - loved the metaphorical, poetic tone of this post. You're so talented! And you give me hope that I will find my own acceptance, confidence and inner strength in my RA journey just like you. Thanks.
Jackie...thank you for your kind words. I hope we all make it through the ra journey. And do know that if you ever need any help in your journey or a shoulder to lean on, give a hollar and I will do my best to help.
As a transplanted new englander, I must admit I miss the sounds of the storms we had during any and all seasons. I've been through several hurricaines and no two were alike. Snow storms, the same. I loved everything nature had to throw at you and the four seasons.
Glad you made it through okay!
Thanks for having me
Tammy
Hi Deb,
Your ruminations resonated resolutely with me! I really enjoyed this reflective post. I'm so glad that you fared well with the hurricane, and that flares are off in the distance for you, quietly holding at-bay.
I have not experienced a hurricane or hurricane warning. It's one of the few examples of fury I haven't added to my "collection" of nature's wrath, such as numerous earthquakes -- including the infamous Loma Prieta quake in No. CA in 1989 -- several tornadoes that whizzed-on-by in TX and IL; ice storms and blizzards in New England; and a tsunami warning in Hawaii that thankfully was downgraded to a tropical storm.
Here's hoping for a more uneventful season for you weather-wise, and continued silence, healthwise.
Tammy...Welcome! Although I do love the changing seasons, I am for sure not crazy about the extremes. It is just another one of those things I try to look at as the glass half full when I can. And I am sooo grateful we made it through just fine.
Thrive With RA...murphy's law has come into play in my life. I have had the ribcages acting up the past few days which isn't too much fun. But I was sooo enjoying my reprieve and looking forward to another round of that and hopefully soon. Fall is struggling to settle in here and I will welcome it with the cooler weather and all. And of course then we have the holidays also which I just love. MMMM....pumpkin pie! Wow, you sure have had your taste of Mother Nature. I think the quakes are the worst for me personally as I never knew when they were coming. Kinda like when my older brother use to sneak up on me when we were kids and yell "BOO"! Always gave me a slight heart attack.
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