reader. writer.

Internet is back after vanishing since noon on Friday (and taking cell service with it). Water was off for two days (back now with boil advisory). In my neighborhood in Boone, NC, we tend to do better during storms (usually snow or ice), and that was true this time—in our house, power just flickered a few times on and off on Friday, whereas tens of thousands in our county are still waiting for it to return. Amplified by a heavy rainstorm the day before, Helene attacked our mountains with a vengeance. For those of us who thankfully missed worse effects, the hardest part has been feeling as if we had to walk around with blindfolds on, unable to find out how bad it has been. Texts came in partially—“are you okay?” “We’re fine,” I answer, but the message fails to send.

Again, we were lucky here…I could walk a block away and get better cell service, texting my kids in college off the mountain to say we’re fine. My kids reply: “Okay? What, did it rain there?” (Lol) 

It has been nice to walk my neighborhood and check in with neighbors. “You okay?” Nods. “You?” “Yeah.” And a lot of shaking of heads, as more information reaches us of how our neighbors across the county and beyond have lost so much, so quickly.

I was also fortunate that I could walk two blocks further and borrow visitor WiFi outside the university library, getting quick peeks at Facebook, suddenly understanding why one of my neighbors mentioned Asheville, hit harder than here, which feels hard to imagine. 

My husband and I ventured on a quasi well check, navigating Pinnacle Drive by foot to check on a friend perched high on the mountain, which allowed us to see firsthand what this storm has done, driveways washed away, plus one section where the main road completely crumbled, cutting off many families, including one making walks up and down all day to deliver supplies for a sick child. What we saw there happened all across the mountains, it seems, and my mind boggles at the tasks that lie ahead.

I admit, I feel so much better to be reconnected (and will own that I’m a hypocrite because I often weary of the interruptions that internet and cellphones provide, but it turns out I miss them terribly when I can’t have them). So as I worry about those who are still out of touch, I’m taking a moment today to feel immense gratitude for all the people working so hard to help us get back on our feet—the local, state, and federal agencies stepping in as quickly as possible, the utility workers, the emergency services, the volunteers, the grocery store workers facing a different kind of flood, the people outside of our mountains who are so eager to help (aww, they like us), and neighbors everywhere checking in on one another, dropping off water, asking, “you okay?” “Yeah, you?”

And for those hit hard, a link: https://www.disasterassistance.gov