Aftermath

The events of the last 24 hours have been unbelievable. That word has new meaning for me, because to see some of the things I saw yesterday; I truly have gained an understanding when you see something that you can't believe. Streets that I have known my whole life; completely and totally underwater, knee deep, waist deep, sometimes neck deep. People who can't afford to lose anything, that have lost everything. The faces of children who innocence allows them to see the devastation as nothing more than a vast new waterpark. The story of the owners of a recently restored bar, inconsolable as they witnessed their hard work and money underwater. Pacing my house, literally watching the water rise all around you and then to see others for whom the rain didn't stop at the right time. Driving around town today you could almost believe that nothing happened here; until you see the baseball park where you used to play little league littered with cars dumped by the new river that flowed right through, no, check that, over and completely engulfed the town park. Water marks on buildings from where you usually can't see any body of water. Peoples' faces with what seems like their jaws permanently unlocked and their heads constantly shaking back and forth. Staring at the news it becomes clear that those south of here have suffered worse. I can only imagine New Orleans as this devastation was only a small percentage of what those residents had to go through. Neighbors gathered last night, reveling in their luck, trading stories as if we had all been through a battle, pausing in conversation only after thinking of the stories of those not so lucky. Ashley and I rode our bikes through a lot of the flooding, riding streets so familiar but now foreign to me, another planet. She said, "I had to see this to believe it actually happened." Unbelievable.