After The Storm - An Essay

As I hid under the pile of dirty laundry on the lowest level of my house, I prayed. I prayed for safety not only for myself, but for everyone I knew. I would have prayed for you too, but I don't know your name. I also prayed that there were no huge, bitey spiders with me in those stained, smelly, "dryness due to winter" flaky skin clothes.

It's funny how the "non-religious" or "lite-religious" turn to God during times of crisis. I often wonder if when He sees those calls come in, does He let them go to voicemail and listen to them two months later just to free up some space and get rid of those annoying notifications. I'm sure it's tempting.

I believe I probably fall in the "lite-religious" prayer group, but God kept me safe this time. The roof felt like it was being ripped off, but he told me to grab Butterscotch - my Chocolate Lab, and Higgins - my Jackenese, and to dive into that pile of filth. I also remember Him saying to believe in him if I wanted to live. I did as I was told, but as I did so, I made a mental note to add The Terminator to my Netflix instant queue.

The daylight hours show that we've lost a few tree limbs and a beautiful Pine lay dead in the street. Our house is still standing and the only real damage is on one corner of the roof. It looks as if some huge hand tried to pry us open like some old Tupperware bowl long ignored in the back of the refrigerator, but instead of buying trouble, they decided to let someone else deal with it later. There's no cleaning that bowl now and who wants to be responsible for throwing away MeeMaw's Tupperware container. She always wondered why we couldn't have nice things.

The night was filled with fear, but in the light of day, we remain here in this now unburped*, undated storage container, possibly growing mold.

*The "burping seal" was a term used byTupperware. Their claim was that the burping kept the items fresh in the container longer than other containers.

© LMY 1.30.2013