Winter Storm

The Pacific Northwest really got hit last week with a fierce storm.

But the question remains: are we too soft?

It's being debated on the radio as many of us still are without power 96 hours later. I'm disturbed at how much of my life has been disrupted without power and how hard it has been to maintain some semblance of normalcy. I think I now can maybe begin to begin to fathom a small bit of what Hurricane Katrina survivors went through. Or, maybe I'm just a wuss.

We lost power Thursday night and the temps sank to the low 20s over the weekend. We kept warm by going out to eat and visiting friends, and now we've checked into a hotel, because I have deadlines and clients who are relying on me. But what if I had small children? What if we were farther outside of suburbia?

I think these two things have become apparent:

1. We're buying a generator, not a large one, but one big enough to turn our heat on and keep our food from spoiling.

2. We're going to plan for a week's worst case scenario instead of just three days. This will require some more planning, but I am determined.

Our trees stayed up through the wind gusts and we're healthy and okay. We have outstanding neighbors who banded together to help each other out. That's a LOT to be thankful for.

Merry Christmas, everyone.