Flooding threat brings waves of gratitude

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Opinion

May 24, 2019 - 4:58 PM

I have yet to find the sugar, but I spied a bottle of soy sauce in our bedroom next to the hockey sticks.

When you’re in a hurry to evacuate, any semblance of organization goes out the window.

That’s OK.

We’re thankful it was just a practice drill and our home wasn’t flooded. 

Tuesday night’s ordeal came with many lessons, but none more important than what it means to be a friend.

With nary a phone call, we had a dozen friends and neighbors show up to help move a good share of our belongings out of harm’s way. I hadn’t seen some of these people in months. Others, I knew only on a superficial level. After Tuesday, that’s changed. There’s something about straining to lift a table or an overpacked box of photo albums that brings you together. 

In hindsight, I probably overdid it. But the thought of dragging out a waterlogged sofa or books made it seem prudent.

It was also a lesson in humility. 

For a brief instance, I felt so exposed as people saw our catch-all closets, the little-used items underneath the kitchen sink, and oh, that refrigerator in the basement where we’d been in denial that lukewarm was cold enough. 

But I quickly let any reservations drop because I knew what brought these people our way was their concern and that they could care less about what kind of a housekeeper I am. 

“Don’t judge me,” I said to a friend holding open a 50-gallon trash bag as I feverishly cleared out a storage closet in our basement. 

“I won’t look,” she replied. 

I could’ve kissed her. 

When I look at our belongings now piled high in a couple of rooms, I realize that I’ve been holding on to a lot of things that have no personal value. Some were items from my parents or grandparents. Some things I purchased but no longer use.

Brian and I have promised that we’re going to think twice before returning some things to their previous spots.

 

EVEN THOUGH the immediate danger has receded, our systems still seem to be on high alert, which is exhausting. We’re constantly looking at the weather radar. Every time it rains, we wonder if it will send us back into the danger zone. In the back of our minds we’re thinking how difficult it’s going to be to recover.

Two things are helping me climb down off that cliff: Talking about it and realizing that I can change how I react to the stress.

I’ve learned that the nerve sensors in our bodies — the things that set off alarms — are replaced every few days, giving us a window to retrain those paths in a more healthy direction.

While I know my brain is just trying to protect me by worrying about my wellbeing, I need to let it know the tactic is backfiring. 

Besides the threat of more flooding, I have needlessly let other unpleasant things take precedence in my thinking and those toxic thoughts are toxins to the body.

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