Gatchamania.net - Print: Didn't mean to drop into a black hole.

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Posted by Dragonsbain on 08-09-2011 at 05:59:

Frown Didn't mean to drop into a black hole.

Hello all,
Sorry I've been silent for a few weeks. I had to help after Irene.

Becky, I'm so sorry about your friends house. I hope they had good insurance. My thoughts are with them. Charlotte is my neck of the woods . Thankfully Lee didn't soak us out here.

I have to admit that I had my temper riled by Allen's posts about Irene. I stayed away before I posted something stupid in anger. Allen, you will learn about Mother Nature's power. Your young yet. I had to learn the hard way. Hurricane Andrew did that for me. Let me share, in hopes that you never have to experience this yourself.

I was 23 when Andrew came to Florida. My parents were in Boca Raton. ( We did more damage to the house preparing for Andrew than Andrew did the night of the storm.) My boyfriend was spending the night watching over his mother and grandmother in Miami. I was running blood between hospitals. I drove through Andrew most of the night. I was on the ultimate adrenaline kick. I had a few notes with me from the hospital administrators to show the police when they stopped me. No one was supposed to be out that night. My ego was just amazing. I would show up at a hospital like I was Superman or something. I was doing good but I should have watched my ego. I was laughing at the storm. The sun rose and the destruction was amazing. I got through to my boyfriend to find all three had made it but the house didn't. I got him and his family taken care of. I was totally unshaken. I have no idea why.

The next day I went to Miami Metro Zoo. I was in line to get a job there. I wanted to help however I could. The place was destroyed. Animals were running around. You get the picture. I just happened to be helping clean up around the remains of the aviary. It totally collapsed. Killed all the birds inside. Then the guy I was with turned white. I asked why. He turned around and said that we should probably leave and give the Doctor some privacy. The Professor who was in charge of the Aviary had not seen it yet. A small group of his friends and coworkers had led him to the site with his eyes covered. I had interviewed with him. A very upright, scholarly gentleman. All of that washed away when he opened his eyes.
He fell to his knees sobbing and cursing God, the universe and anything else he could think of. Within five minutes of seeing that, I started feeling very sick. Of course I was helping collect the bodies of the birds. I still don't know why that is what triggered me to feel everything. I decided to feign heat exhaustion to get out of there. I got to my car and lost it. I must have cried for an hour. My boyfriend had to deal with me that night.
It is ok to feel all the care and pain for people. Just take that and funnel it into doing something positive for the next time the Earth decides it needs to " readjust" it's surface.

Ok I'm putting my soapbox away. I don't know if anyone here watches Dr.Who. I did get to reacquaint myself with Dr. Who. I have watched all the modern doctors in two weeks. Wow! The scene in " Forest of the Dead" between David Tennant and Alex Kingston is confusing the first time you see it. All the emotion didn't make any sense. After I finished watching all the Matt Smith episodes, to date, OMG! River's Death scene takes on a whole new meaning. Yes, for the record, the second time I watched it I cried.

I hope that we all get a break from the weather. Be well everyone.

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Posted by condorcandi on 08-09-2011 at 09:54:

Awesome! You go girl!

Grief can affect us in many ways, and wait a surprising amount of time. I always function fine in a crisis; it's afterwards I collapse.

Thanks for a wonderful and insightful post.

__________________
Candi

Hollywood is a land of money and cowardice.

-Henry A. Lee, Cracked.com columnist

Posted by Madilayn on 08-09-2011 at 10:03:

Dragonsbane - I think that everybody feels like you did at first. Until something makes you see - really see - just what destruction has been wrought - and what that destruction doees to people.

I think part of the problem is that until you have gone through a major disaster you can't possibly know what it's like - and that is why people take them so lightly.

For those who have not been through some major disaster - you are lucky and I pray that you never have to experience it. That said, don't be astonished or mock those who have, or the preparations they take.

Those preparations may seem like overkill, but they save lives.

Your mention of the Professor and his birds does put me in mind of our own January flooding here - where hundreds of volunteers went to the RSPCA refuge and Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary - both of which would flood quite severly - and move the animals to safety. SOme of them, to their own homes.

I saw interviews with the keepers at Lone Pine, and they were in tears becase they managed to save all their animals, and they were in tears becuase of the other animals - pets, livestock, that was killed.

Sorry - am rambling here. You did do good during Andrew - you did save lives. Be proud of what you did, Dragonsbain. Because you took the risk, people lived. And nobody can really have any higher honour than that being said about their actions.

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"When I'm old, I don't want them to say of me, "She's so charming." I want them to say, "Be careful, I think she's armed." -G. Stoddart

Posted by Transmute Jun on 08-09-2011 at 13:42:

Dragonsbain, thank you for sharing your story with us. I am glad that you have survive this latest batch of hurricanes and that the people you love are safe. Huggles

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Posted by AllentownDarkWater on 08-09-2011 at 21:16:

Glad you're okay! Hug

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Banned

Posted by clouddancer on 08-09-2011 at 22:05:

Dragonsbain, I am glad you are okay and successfully road out Irene. Thank you for sharing your story and for reminding us of some of the things we should be thinking about, instead of ourselves and how things affect, or don't affect, us all the time.

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Posted by Becky Rock on 09-09-2011 at 01:54:

Dragon, I've been lucky enough to never have an up close and personal experience with a major hurricane. At the time Andrew hit, I was already in the WDC area, but my employer had an office in Miami that was destroyed and many of my co-workers there lost everything.

Thank you for sharing your experience.

There's major flooding in PA. My prayers are with those who have lost their homes.

And also praying for those in Texas whose homes were destroyed by one of the hundreds of fires raging through the state. If only we could take some of this rain their way.

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Posted by amethyst on 09-09-2011 at 02:58:

Hurricanes, nope. But have experienced tornadoes on a few trips to Wisconsin and Illinois. A few earthquakes. And lots of flooding.

The first major flood I remember was mostly inconvenient for us, but changed several lives forever. Particularly the family of a local doctor who lost his oldest son in the flood. He and a friend were rafting in a flooded creek when they went under and he drowned.

Everyone deals with tragedy differently. Some while some through themselves into rescue and recovery, others operate on denial, and a full spectrum in between.

When I was teaching there was a fire at a local theme park (literally a few miles from the school). A baby giraffe was killed. To me and many of my students it was sad news, but not something to disrupt the day. However, one student was really affected by the event. I liked to think of this child as a junior Eddie Murphy as had the same charisma, humor, etc. Knowing that he needed to work through it and would be embarrassed to be sent out to talk to a counselor, I gave him ten minutes or so do his monologue for the giraffe. It was mostly crude toilet humor, but the kid needed his outlet. The others were just glad to have ten minutes less English.

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Perspective Alters Reality

Posted by lborgia88 on 09-09-2011 at 03:08:

This spring, I had rain leak in through a section of roof and collapse part of the ceiling in the foyer -and at the time that seemed like a calamity! I can really see now how very, very trivial it was.

I've been lucky so far in my life, not having faced any major natural disaster, but my heart sure goes out to those -human and animal- who have, or currently are.

Posted by Dragonsbain on 09-09-2011 at 05:09:

Hi everyone,
Thanks for the praise Madilayn. It is hard for me to look back on that night and not think the phrase "young and stupid". I can relate to the rescue workers you talked about. There is a deep connection between humans and animals. The explanation of it is better left to psychologists.

Amethyst, that was a wonderful thing you did for your student.

TJ, Thanks for the hug.

Candi, I'm just like you. One of my friends calls it suspended animation. All heck and hey can break loose and I'm a rock. When peace returns, I splinter.

CD, Thank-you.

Iborgia, Trust me. Replacing part of the roof IS a small calamity. Your home is your refuge. If something violates it, it is hard not to react. Been there. Done that.

Becky, I wish we could reroute all these flood waters to those who really need it. What Texas needs is a slow, steady saturating rain. I remember weeks like that in CT.

Allen, Thank-you. Please understand I'm not mad at you. I'm just telling this story as a warning. I had never felt so broken till that day. Every once in a while the Universe kicks you in the tush and then makes you watch the replays.

Everyone. I found this great article about rescue dogs. I'll post the link.

http://www.petcentric.com/Read/Articles/Hero-Dogs-of-911.aspx?articleid=2455c0a2-1343-45dd-b27f-b800a4573d66&DCMP=EMC-PETC-PETC-Sep11_1

Enjoy everyone.

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Posted by littlewolf on 09-09-2011 at 07:19:

Dragonsbain
You did what was right for you,

I found that animals were often the hardest thing to deal with in disasters, we would go in to assist people were ever we could..often in their shock, their animals were their anchor or focus, we would crawl through roofs, climb trees and hopefully find them (especially for the young and elderly), sometimes we did, others we didn't

As human we have more of a capacity to help ourselves..animals don't always have that ability, especially if they are in a confined area

You have assisted both human and animals in difficult circumstances, in my books that makes you "Quality people"..and as for the universe..sometimes it gets our attention in less than subtle ways..the trick is "you got back up"..your have amazing inner strength

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