Stuck

Sometimes I feel sorry for myself. I'm sure everyone does, right? Sometimes it's hard to remember that no matter my problems, some people have it way worse than me.

For instance, I went to the beach over New Years, and it rained like crazy Sunday. Extenuating circumstances kept me from leaving that day, which was the original plan. The next morning when I went to leave for home, I stopped for a mocha at a coffee kiosk and found out that I wasn't going anywhere. The heavy rains had washed out parts of the highways I needed to access to leave town.

I was stuck.

I turned back around and headed back to the beach house. I was not happy. Not one bit. In fact, I was being a little whiny bitch.

photo by WSDOT

When I turned the TV on to try to get some news on road closures, I stopped
whining. Roads weren't just closed, they were flooded, some demolished. At least 10 landslides had caused damage in different areas, including lifting 3 homes off their foundations and pushing them into the street.

In another area about 200 people were stranded because the only road leading up the hill to their homes had been completely washed out.

It was a miracle no one was hurt.

I remained a little frightened, I wasn't sure if water would find its way up to where I was staying. I was near the bay, the ocean and a lake and most of the rivers in the area were flooding.  However, I felt sure I would be okay. I took the extra day to telecommute for work, relax and watch the news for any updates.

This morning I checked the updates and all roads leading home were opened,not fully, but enough so that I could get through.

photo by WSDOT

Driving home, the devastation became more real for me. The side streets of one town were still completely flooded, I saw first hand two large landslides, the ones that took houses out, rivers still overflowed, trees were down and meadows and farms were flooded for at least half the way home.

People had been evacuated and displaced. Locals said it was the worst they'd ever seen.

That is as close to a natural disaster that I've ever been aside from the handful of small earthquakes my city has seen. It puts things into perspective. Whenever I feel stuck again or sorry for myself, I will try to remember that small town with its flooded streets and deteriorated bluffs and all the people who really lost something these last couple days. Then I will pick up my pieces and forge on, keeping in mind that no matter how bad things seem, it's not the worst thing that could happen.