I hope your month started off well. We finally made it up to our tiny cabin after Hurricane Helene and I’m feeling thankful.
 
The hurricane damage gets progressively worse as you drive west. We saw houses flattened, or rather, the pieces of what had once been houses, hanging  in trees and strewn along the roadside. We saw people tent-camping in their yards next to their still-standing but ruined houses.
 
What hit me hardest was the strangeness of the scenery. Here in North Carolina we are used to storm damage but inland it’s usually torn up trees and wind damage. There’s plenty of that to be sure, but there’s also flood damage we aren’t as used to up here. It’s so odd to see people’s belongings just scattered in ditches and road medians. So many pieces of furniture and clothing and household goods are just all over the place, even where there are no visible houses.
 
I was also struck by the way the damage skips over some spots. A sports complex in the Asheville suburbs is just flattened ~ the playground equipment and fencing and soccer goals piled up like matchsticks at the edge of a field of mud ~ but around the next bend a perfect white armchair sits by the road looking as pristine as if it’s in a furniture show room. A tendril of railroad track hangs in the empty air in Maggie Valley, the mountain under it washed away, but a few feet away sits a tissue box with tissues sticking out of the top like it’s still on a bathroom shelf. A snow shovel lies in the road in Pisgah Forest, near a landslide scar, but a few feet away a field of zinnias in autumnal shades blooms brightly without a blemish.
 
Driving through Old Fort and Swannanoa brought me to tears. It will be years, if ever, before that area fully recovers. It was such a relief to arrive and see the cabin sitting there, covered in leaves but perfectly fine. Two trees were down on our fire pit and we had to dig out our stairs. Another tree is hanging by a thread but we will have to tackle it next time we go up there since we didn’t have the extendable tree saw with us this time. But still, we are so lucky. I probably worked a bit too much clearing the beach; my knee is sore today, but I can’t stop thinking about how much better we have it than our neighbors.
 
To be clear, despite what you might have read on social media we saw tons of first responders helping: electrical workers and DMV trucks are everywhere. We saw convoys of bucket trucks and supply trucks from all over the country bringing excavators and heavy equipment, working even on Sunday.
 
We are also helping out as much as we can of course. We’ve already donated a bunch of supplies and now we are organizing a holiday drive for one of my husband’s employees whose family lost their entire house. I appreciate you shopping with me so much ~ you make it possible for me to give generously. 
 
You can watch a video of us clearing our beach by clicking the button below.