Sunday, Dec. 14th… We were lucky…consider ourselves so………

You never know just how lucky you are until you open your eyes and look at other peoples agony! Trying to get to Washington County’s Cambridge yesterday, took us up route 7 toward Bennington, Vermont. As we drove through Troy we noticed then entire town was without power, because the street lights were not operable and many of the businesses were closed down with empty parking lots. Just outside of Troy, at Brunswick Center, we had to travel on a detour over route 278 because route 7 was closed, due to downed trees and power lines. We followed that detour for miles and miles…… without any signs and reached many junctions of other roads without any detour arrows or signs. I would estimate traveling at least 22 miles before we came across route 22, which I knew headed north through Cambridge, which was to originally be our first stop of the day. We were to stop at a stained glass shop, where Vick wanted to pick up some supplies and we were to head further north to Hudson Falls, for the Hospice tree lighting ceremony. Now, we were running late, but back on the right roads. Where route 22 crossed back over route 7 (our original route), we were surprised to note that route 7 was closed off there, so everyone living along this route from here to Brunswick Center, approximately, 5 larger towns and many little villages and homes, were in a closed off area and most without power. Now we made our stops……but we were so late after the detour, that we had to bypass the Cambridge stop and go straight to the tree lighting ceremony and was a half hour late, arriving at 3:30. As luck would have it, they had some technical difficulties and we were there about 5 minutes when they called Vick up to place Carl’s name tag and ribbon on the tree. We stayed for the remainder of the lovely program and after many tears and remembrance, we were back in the car, driving in the near dark of winter heading for Cambridge again, some 29 miles from where we were at 4:38 and she closed at 5 o’clock. Vick called her and asked how long she was going to be there and she said she was working on a project and she would remain open until we got there in approx. 20 minutes. We made the stop and Vick visited a bit then we headed home for the day, traveling on route 40 this time to by-pass the detour. We came straight home that way, but still witnessed much more of nature’s wrath along the way with downed trees, single lane traffic in some areas, due to downed lines and trees, many, many power truck crews working into the frigid, cold, night and many more power outages.
Little do we think or stop to realize how fortunate we really are when we are not included in the disaster area. Think of the folks trying to survive the 12 to 19 degree temperatures without any power. No power means no heat, lights or sump pumps, so any water entering their basements is now just building up and flooding everything……compounding their dilemma. Does anyone ever look out for, or check elderly people to see that they are not freezing to death when these conditions occur?
After returning home to find a cozy pellet stove keeping the living room warm all day, the dogs curled up on the couches and a nice cozy barn and other outbuildings protecting our animals, I had to stop to give thanks to God for our blessings and give prayer for the less fortunate whose neighborhoods we passed through on our way to and from the days destinations……… then realized it was only a small dot on a huge map, across the country and asked God to bless everyone in need as we continue toward Christmas……