One year later

It's hard for me to believe but one year ago today my town was totally flooded. We were trapped in our little neighborhood and only had access to one fourth of the town. At least we could still get milk and bread at the good convenience store. :)

Today as I was driving home I wanted to cry, thinking of and seeing all of the remaining devastation. A church that's been there for all of my life is now closed and will be torn down. So many homes are sitting empty and waiting for demolition. Luckily most of the small businesses are reopened, several in new locations. The remaining empty store fronts have been cleaned. Seeing the yellowing paper in the windows is just sad. Yesterday one of the playgrounds that was affected was finally reopened - it was totally rebuilt over the last few weeks. One of our schools is empty and will never be used again. The students are now attending class in an old strip mall. My teacher friends hate it because there is no privacy and it will be 2+ years before a new school will be opened.

So many people affected in so many different ways. My heart goes out to everyone, especially those from the smaller towns and those who did not have advocates.