[Magdalen] Florence?

[Ginga Wilder]

I have another Hugo story to share.  This is a story of the innate goodness
of human beings and the desire to help people with needs.

The Monday before Hugo hit us on Thursday, September 22, 1989, my mother's
physician told us she could die any day...she had had inoperable lung
cancer for 10 months.  Early in mother's illness she made known her wishes
to die at home, in her beautiful little apartment.  My 2 sisters and I did
the necessary things to take care of her at home.  All three of us worked
and one of us lived 3 hours away, so, beginning in May, 1989, we arranged
for licensed sitters to stay with Mama from Monday mornings @ 7 AM until
Friday nights at 11 PM.  My sisters and I shared weekend duty.  As Mama got
sicker, we began doubling up.  At the last, all three of us stayed with
Mama on weekends - one was on duty, one was on call, and one was
sleeping/resting.  This was holy work.  So, this was our situation when
Hugo blew into town.  We moved Mama and her recliner to my sister's house
around the corner and Mama spent the storm jammed into a door frame in the
event damage came to the house.

Hugo devastated Summerville, along with much of the SC low country.
Summerville is known for its old trees - oaks, magnolias, pines, dogwoods -
a really lovely little wooded village.  Hugo winds came through Summerville
at about 120 mph.  We were walloped. When all was done, John and I had the
top of an oak tree through our roof...it twisted off and the winds
deposited it there.  My sister, where Mama was staying, had three trees in
her house, one cracking the I-beam of the roof.  They were wet but no one
was injured.

Hugo came at night and blew until dawn - the eye passed right over
Summerville.  We went on the front porch at halftime only to be overwhelmed
by the smell of fresh cut pine.  In the morning, our neighborhood - really
all of the village - had lost so many trees, we couldn't even see the
street from the porch (about 30 feet away).  I headed out in the direction
of my sister's house, trekking over and under and around the zillions of
trees.  We knew to call out and discovered many friends doing the same
thing.  And, then, my sister answered.  She caught me up on their damage
and that Mama was uninjured.  Joy and thankfulness overwhelmed.

Sister who lived 3 hours away called to say that her husband's company was
sending an industrial  generator to assist with Mama's care.  Later, the
Mennonites showed up.  They had gone to the fire station to ask who needed
help.  They were sent to my sister's house to dry in the roof.  As I type
this, remembering brings tears, the kind we shed when grace comes in
unexpected, undeserved ways.  I believe our nature is to be giving and
loving and do the right thing.  Sometimes in this era, it seems we may have
lost a good bit of that, but perhaps we focus on only a few of those we
hear about in the news.

(Two weeks later, the Episcopal Youth group from Ashland, VA cleaned up a
great deal of the mess in our yard.  We had lost nearly tree we had on our
once wooded lot.  At the end of that day, our associate rector officiated
at a home Eucharist in our family room.  More holy time.

Mama lived a few more weeks and died back in her beautiful little apartment.

Ginga

On Wed, Sep 12, 2018 at 12:17 PM Jay Weigel <jay.weigel at gmail.com> wrote:

> The summer I worked in Greenville, NC, my assignment was bracketed by two
> tropical storms that verged on hurricanes. I had never seen so much rain
> come don so straight and so hard for so long. During the second one my
> co-workers sat around trading hurricane stories from the worst one they
> remembered to hit that area, one called (I think) Belle. The story I still
> remember is of one younger tech's mother, who routinely kept half-gallons
> of milk in her freezer. (I didn't know you could do that and I know some
> folks say you shouldn't, but anyhow...) She had stashed away extra in
> advance of the storm, and the girl said she was the most popular person in
> the neighborhood because she had milk and no one else did....and she gave
> most of it away, which was why she'd stashed it in the first place.
>
> On Tue, Sep 11, 2018 at 7:22 PM Ginga Wilder <gingawilder at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Florence may flip around after crossing land in NC and come down into SC,
> > even into the low country.  The cone has been moved leftward and now we
> are
> > back in it.  Don't know what the percentages are.  Tomorrow we will get
> > serious about getting ready.  Need 9V batteries for our radios.  Propane
> > cylinders for lanterns.  Bread to go with peanut butter and jelly.  After
> > Hugo, we put a gas range, so we will be able to cook on the stove top.
> > This storm will be nothing like Hugo here and now, but we were without
> > electricity for over 2 weeks then.  Also, we shared stuff in our
> > neighborhood - we had hot water and a landline telephone that worked.  We
> > were the neighborhood shower and telephone booth.  A neighbor had a
> french
> > press and a gas stove...coffee was available.  The neighborhood had a bbq
> > of thawing stuff from freezers...on the first day.
> >
> > So, a change in plans....preparing has always been insurance that we
> won't
> > get the storm.  Maybe that will work this time too.
> >
> > Ginga
> >
> > On Tue, Sep 11, 2018 at 6:11 PM Ginga Wilder <gingawilder at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Lord, have mercy, Cady.  Prayers for you safety.
> > > Ginga
> > >
> > > On Tue, Sep 11, 2018 at 5:40 PM cady soukup <cadyasoukup at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > >> A friend from years past (search & rescue) is now a professor of
> > >> meteorology and engineering in Georgia. He is actively telling
> > >> everyone to pay attention to Florence warnings. I do not have the
> > >> details - but he claims it may devastate not only the barrier islands
> > >> and coastal plains, but likely flood parts of the piedmont and affect
> > >> the Appalachian/Blue Ridge mountains of NC and VA (he is talking about
> > >> landslides).
> > >>
> > >> We have prepared a bit. Lots of canned food, a stove, gallons of
> > >> water. No major livestock to worry about, only cats and parrots now.
> > >> Our pond is our backup water source for water-that-must-be-boiled or
> > >> not used for drinking/food. I do hope the pond's drain pipe continues
> > >> to hold up! We have had several flash floods and bridges taken out so
> > >> far this year.
> > >>
> > >> Cady
> > >>
> > >> On 9/11/18, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >> > Former Listsib Connie Jones lives in Norfolk in a very low-lying
> part
> > of
> > >> > the city.
> > >> >
> > >> > On Tue, Sep 11, 2018 at 11:09 AM cantor03--- via Magdalen <
> > >> > magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:
> > >> >
> > >> >> We've had over 3" rain from the remnants of that tropical storm
> here
> > >> >> at the edge of the Pennsylvania Poconos.  I presume we'll have rain
> > >> >> from Florence in due time.  Hope the basement remains dry.
> > >> >>
> > >> >>
> > >> >> David S.
> > >> >>
> > >> >>
> > >> >>
> > >> >>
> > >> >>
> > >> >>
> > >> >> In a message dated 9/10/2018 3:36:33 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> > >> >> cadyasoukup at gmail.com writes:
> > >> >>
> > >> >>
> > >> >>
> > >> >> Cady
> > >> >> watching the rain & our full pond in rural Virginia
> > >> >>
> > >> >
> > >> >
> > >> > --
> > >> > Grace Cangialosi
> > >> > Ruckersville, VA
> > >> >
> > >> > *"Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with
> > >> great
> > >> > love."*
> > >> > *St. Teresa of Calcutta*
> > >> >
> > >>
> > >
> >
>