Hey.

 These past ten days have been interesting, to say the least. 

We’d planned a vacation for the same time, but obviously that didn’t work out. We were going to rent an RV to drive to Flagstaff and then get an Airbnb cabin with room for us, the boy, the YM and her boyfriend and the oldest son and his family. .... ironically, we were hoping for snow.

Well, we couldn’t get out and even if we could have, we needed to stay here to monitor the pipes. The ones really causing issues were the balcony sprinkler systems. We ran our dryer ever couple of hours because our vent goes through the loft and out onto the balcony, therefore keeping pipes warm. 

We are very fortunate. Robb makes a habit of teasing me if I say something that sounds like white privilege. An example, I told him that with the new Covid strain from the UK, we were only going to order groceries and have the concierge pick them up and leave them outside the door. He said “ what’s that smell? Oh! It’s white privilege”

Ouch. And totally true. I sounded like a jackass. 

I will admit that we were lucky because of WHERE we live. Businesses beneath us. They were give priority and by way of that, so we’re we. My girls live close to hospitals. That helped them and every day and night we saw such misery and nightmarish situations. My om’s friend lost her dad from carbon monoxide poisoning. There was a lot of that. Babies sleeping in cars until the gas ran out and gas stations didn’t have gas. A friend of ours found a man, dead, frozen next to a bush.

We offered our home for showers, outlets, water and warmth. Our building made pots of spaghetti and chili and took them to the clubhouse. There was heat and water and showers in the gym. Yet, I felt so helpless. So overwhelmed with the sheer number of people needing help. 

I yelled at Stephen King. ( Ps: it’s not the first time, either! I was paid to write movie reviews for a now defunct website when we moved to Arizona. The Mist... I’m gonna give spoilers about a 20 year old movie... A CHILD was SHOT in the last few minutes and I needed to unleash the anger over that.... So, I emailed him. I know!! Crazy or Sassy? 

Anyway he made a stupid political post about Texas which was correct on a basic level but while people are starving and dying, it’s not the time for that, Dude!!! Send food, blankets, water, Diapers, formula, feminine products, toothpaste etc... no need to kick people while they are WAY down, STEPHEN!

My husband’s worksite closed down so he was home for the ten days and we threw out a time schedule. Played board games, rented movies, slept when we were tired and ate when we were hungry. No rush. No pressure and boy, it was really relaxing. With the exception of the constant fear that we could freeze to death or have our home flooded. I needed that time to shut down.

Texas is an..... Interesting.... place.

Night,

Tracy