This has been one of the most devastating storms ever. The only other hurricane that even compares was Katrina. But I think this one left more people hurting.
Maybe I feel this way because I know people on the east coast, and I worry about them. But I feel more compassion for all of those who are suffering. There isn't a day that the thought of people in desperation doesn't weigh me down. I haven't felt this way since I watched Space Shuttle Challenger blow up on live TV. The feeling of good people lost due to no fault of their own, it just makes me feel helpless.
Claire, not only my prayers, but my heart goes out to you. I know first hand how sick it can make you feel, when tragedy has struck near home.
Shortly after I got married, my wife and I conceived our first child. I was at work, on North Island Naval Air Station on Coronado Island, just off of San Diego. I heard on the radio that their had been a mid-air collision between a small private plane, and a passenger net, and that the airliner had crashed in my neighborhood. I was sick with worry. I didn't know how close it had crashed near my home, where my wife and unborn child were. I was able to get off work to go home and check on them. The airliner had crashed two blocks away, onto an apartment building. There were ashes and parts of the plane in my yard. But my family had been spared. The relief of seeing my family in good shape overwhelmed the feeling of horror that I should have felt at the tragedy of those who had been been on the planes, or in the apartment building.
Worry for loved ones, be they family or friend, can be paralyzing. Claire, again, I pray for your father's well being, and your sister's safety. But mostly, I pray for comfort, and strength for you, and that you will have the resources to help in any way you feel necessary. And I am still praying special prayers for BT and his family as well.
Have faith, and let it give you strength in this difficult time.
Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North.