Everything Will be All Right, Tonight

Here is a bench next to a tree and behind some flood water.

First of all, I need to name the next Saturday Scavenger Hunt word maker upper. I think I'll choose Laura B. at My Boring Life blog. 'Kay?

Next, I think I should warn you that I'm in kind of a weird space. Things have been so bizarre the last week, that it's hard to process. Our town feels like a ghost town too. On Friday there was this mass exodus out of town on Governor Street and now it's quieter than I've ever seen it. You can even find a parking space downtown. No, really. I'm not kidding.

Another thing that feels odd, is the fact that the University shut down for a week. It rarely ever closes. I think before this year, it may have closed for bad weather once in like twenty years. When people call us during an ice or snow storm to see if we're holding classes, the guy who works behind me always tells them that we would only close at the threat of nuclear war. Now, we have a paid week off and it feels surreal.

Of course, it's wonderful that the waters are receding and we're not the first article on every news website anymore. At this point, I'm not so worried about the creek overflowing its banks either. It's not supposed to rain until Friday and the weather pattern we have right now is for non-humid temps in the seventies and eighties - in other words, perfect. The thing I didn't count on, is how kind of lost I feel after waiting for a worst case scenario that never happened.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. It's just that I'm used to the worst case scenario. I expect it. In my world, when my daughter gets sick, she has meningitis, when I take a quaint Sunday buggy ride, there is a horrible accident and my baby ends up in a cast, if there is a nasty storm, it turns into a tornado and takes the roof off of my house. This whole pretty good case scenario is uncharted territory for me. I find myself waiting for the next shoe to drop. What am I going to do with my gallons and gallons of bottled water? What will it be like to go to a grocery store that's actually stocked with food? Incidentally, did you know that peanut butter is the first thing to sell out when there's a flood? I didn't. It makes sense because you don't have to refrigerate or cook it, but it was still news to me. What is the etiquette when there's no need for them, after calling all your friends with trucks and asking them to be on stand-by in case you have to evacuate? Do I call them back and give them the all-clear?

Anyway, today was just a strange day for me. The town felt lonely and quiet...Too quiet. I kept waiting for the Indian warriors to come riding over the plains, ready to attack. Just like it always happened in all the bad Westerns I used to watch. Is it possible that sometimes things turn out just fine after all? Weird.