Mother Nature's Fury

Sunday will mark the one year anniversary of when Mike and I (& Georgia) lost our home and almost all of our belongings. (This is how it looked two days later.) Nashville still hasn't fully recovered and I can remember it like it was only yesterday. Scrambling to find out where to go, what to do, and somewhere to seek refuge. Watching our house flood with water up to my shoulders and our very special possessions float right out of our backyard which had become the Harpeth River. It's hard to think back on all of that, even still. To have our whole life ripped away from us in a matter of hours. And then I think of all of those who are suffering from the deadly tornadoes which blew through most of the South in the past two days... they didn't have an hour or two. They didn't have any warning. Instead, Mother Nature took her fury out on thousands of people. With a death toll of over 265, it really feels like it hits close to home.

I know many of you were readers around this time last year. You offered your condolences, sweet letters and care packages, and you were there for us. I cannot even being to express enough gratitude to all of you who were there for us in our time of need. Friends, family and strangers alike, I've never in my life felt such an outpour of love and support. Now it's our turn to help our Sisters to the South with their recovery. I know several of my readers were affected by this disaster, and even if not directly, their friends and family were. With many friends in the Birmingham area, my heart breaks at the coverage on the news.

Sometimes it's hard to fathom just how something like this can happen. Even with living in Tennessee, tornado devestation just seems like something you see on the Weather Channel. Like it doesn't actually happen. Much less to you or someone you know. But that is exactly how I felt about floods.. and then I experienced one for myself. My life has been changed dramatically by that event, and I'll forever remember it. Even a year later, I honestly feel as though it was some sort of twisted blessing in disguise because it brought into my life so many wonderful people. Our entire community pulled together to support one another when the catastrophe failed to make national news. We fended for ourselves, but that doesn't mean they should have to.

With that being said, I wanted to touch base on a few ways that you can help! You can text 90999 from your cellphone to donate $10 to the Red Cross (it will show up on your next statement) or you can donate directly at RedCross.org. If you are located in the Southeast and would like to volunteer your time, you can look for opportunities to help with cleanup. 

From now until May 7th, I will donate 100% of the proceeds to the Red Cross from anyone who wants to sponsor Little Chief Honeybee.

It's so easy for us to just look at the news and feel numb when we see things like this. The media has definitely left us a little less responsive to catastrophic events such as what just happened. So many people were there for us when we needed it, and it really truly meant so much. Now it's our turn to give back. If you've been on the fence about sponsoring before, think of it as a wonderful way to help those in need. People have been stripped of their homes, material possessions, and even family members. All of the proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross here in Nashville (down the street from our house) on Monday, May 9th. Please email me at kaelahbee@gmail.com if you'd like to partake.

For Japan, With Love

Tomorrow I will be participating in a day of silence for Japan along with hundreds of other bloggers. While blog silence may not be ground-breaking, it does help draw some attention to the matter at hand. Japan is currently experiencing one of the worst natural disasters of our time. They're also facing an unknown future with the nuclear disaster.

Over $20,000 has been raised via For Japan, With Love for ShelterBox... an organization that provides a disaster relief kit including a tent for an extended family, and various other necessities to help them get by. There is no minimum amount required. Every single dollar counts. I've urged everyone to donate several times now, and I don't mean to preach. And while I've never gone through anything quite as devestating as the earthquake + tsunami, when we lost our house in the May 2010 floods, every gesture was cherished. We received the most heartfelt letters, donations, and kind words from strangers we had never even met. This is our chance to give something back, and your chance to pay it forward. These people have lost absolutely everything. Their material goods, their homes, their families, their pets. Their livelihood.

CLICK HERE to read more about how you can help!

I'll be back with regular updates on Saturday, the 19th!

Nashville Flood 2010

Today we went back to Franklin with the Jeep and trailer so that we could potentially salvage some of our belongings. Mike's dad accompanied us. The water in the house, at it's height, was up to my shoulders. Luckily it had receded to about my stomach by the time we arrived. It went down another 6-8 inches in these pictures right before we left. I was able to get some clothes from my closet, a few books and movies. We also got the dishes.

However, everything we had just bought 1 day or 2 prior to the flood, was gone. Including all of our new bedding. We lost all 4 beds in the house, most likely our brand new couch, my Wacom tablet, some Apple stuff, and this and that. I think what hurt me the most was the dresser and mirror in our bedroom that my mother had bought me for moving out of the house. It had collapsed in our bedroom and was fully submerged. Our bedroom was the worst of everyones. Barely anything could be taken from it.

Elle's dad brought his boat from Murfreesboro and we were able to hand things out the window and he brought them to the Jeep. (Yes, the water was still that high.)

Our shed tipped over and our bikes were all inside. It hurts a lot to know we lost those, too. Mike and I worked on that sweet yellow bike for a while. It's just hard to see your life reduced down to a small pile of things.

Granted, I KNOW they're only materialistic things. I know they can be replaced. And believe me, we're counting our lucky stars that we're alive and well, and we have a cozy roof over our head and fresh meals being prepared by my wonderful parents. But it's so so so hard, still.

I bawled like a baby on the front porch before even going in. And tonight after we had returned to Hohenwald, I was crying in the yard as we were unloading things while someone campaigning came up. He said we should just be grateful that we're okay... and we are. SO grateful. But hearing that fifteen hundred times a day from people who haven't experienced it doesn't settle our spirits. I'm in no way trying to be selfish... it's just that we have lost EVERYTHING. Like so many people in our town and Nashville. and it's just unfathomable to think about where to start.

However, I remain 100% confident that we WILL get through this. We are ready to start a fresh, new life. We are ready to make this merely a memory. We're trying to not dwell on disaster.

There are more photos at my FLICKR. Click HERE to see the set. We're going to try to go back tomorrow if the water has gone down and I'll have more photos then, too.

Please continue to pray for our neighbors. It's such a scary thing to experience.

All of your emails have been what has gotten me through the days. You're all so so so incredibly sweet and I'm so humbled by all of this. You guys are keeping me strong.

I've been asked about penpals and things of that nature... my PO Box is fully intact... I think.. But I won't be able to check it for days/weeks at a time. I will be permanently residing at my parents' house until NYC so if you'd like to be penpals or anything, just send them to:

Kaelah Bee

649 Thomas Avenue

Hohenwald, TN 38462

USA

Thank you all again. So much. This hasn't been easy but you're making it so much more bearable.

xoxo

A Somber Saturday

It's with much much sadness that I start this blog post. I'm sitting on the couch in front of the news at my parent's house in Hohenwald next to Georgia and Mike. Today was unlike any other day. So very unlike any other day.

It started with me waking up a few times to thunder and rain. It was such a relaxing environment to sleep in so I didn't roll out of bed until 11:15am. I piddled around for an hour, laid in the hammock on the deck, and then I woke up Mike at noon.

It was nice to lay in the hammock and listen/watch it rain. The creek was flowing pretty heavily, but it was of no concern. Just a nice background noise. After waking Mike up, we decided today was a good rainy day for pancakes! We went to Cracker Barrel for some breakfast and it was beyond rainy. We had a tornado warning but it wasn't anything to be alarmed about really. We were going to just go home but we had a few things to grab at WalMart real quick so we headed over. Everything was flooded. We got our things and we started to check out. The cashier told us that Liberty Pike was shut down. Uh-oh. That was our way home! Well we headed out and just like she said, we had to turn around and take a side road. We finally got to the house and here is what we found:

(Keep in mind, our creek looked like THIS just last week!) All dried up!

Instead, our entire backyard was a giant river. About 7' deep. It had already broken the big wood fence separating our yard from our neighbors. It got scary. I immediately started bawling and I called my mom in panic.

Mom calmed me down and told me I needed to regain my composure to avoid an asthma attack. I brought Morgan and Bryan to the back to show them what was happening; They had no idea. We all moved our cars to a church down the street because it had higher ground. After that, we walked down the street and checked on all of our neighbors and eventually came home to measure the water. Here's a picture of me standing on flat land... a concrete porch that comes up from our backyard (about 4 feet off the ground). Even here, it's waist high.

We decided to prepare for the absolute worst since the water was rising so incredibly fast. We started moving furniture and clothing to higher places. Everyone brought their cars to the street in front and started moving things into their vehicles. The shower flooded our bathrooms before we moved stuff. We took our (new) couch and put it up on the counters and prayed for the best. We moved all of our electronics and then the power shot in our room. We turned off the main breaker and continued to move. I saved almost all of my dresses, my computer, sewing machine, and eventually tv. Everything else, though, is probably gone.

Here's a picture of our driveway. You can barely tell but at this point, the water was well over the back deck and about a foot deep in our house.

This is the front of the house, viewed from the road, before the water took over the entire front. By the time we were finishing up moving stuff out, it was up to the tops of my thighs when I walked.

Here are some interior shots... The first photo is our living room. The second photo is mine and Mike's room.

These last two pictures were taken thirty minutes apart... Look at the drastic difference. Also, peep the water line at the window in the last photo.... then scroll up to the one of me being waist deep. THAT is how much deeper it got in 2 hours. By the time we left, it was pitch black and there was absolutely no hope.

We are lucky that we are renting, however, we do not have renter's insurance. So everything in the house is pretty much gone. Including well over half of my clothes, all 4 of our beds, our new couch, all of our dressers and desks, and all of our furniture. Plus all of my fabrics and things of that nature. Luckily, it's all materialistic. I am fine. Mike is fine. and Georgia is fine.

At one point, Georgia snuck out and almost went for a swim. My heart has never sank so quickly. Luckily Mike was able to grab a hold of her and get her back inside. We kept her in the car out front while we finished moving things out, just to keep her safe.

Our house is completely gone. Everything. The ceilings had already started to crack, the floorboards and the carpets were floating and buckling. I'll be surprised if the back deck is attached tomorrow. The rain is continuing to fall. It's supposed to rain more tomorrow than it did today. Our bikes are gone. Our shed is gone. It's heartbreaking. By the time we left, the water in the backyard was about 15 feet deep, and it was over 2 feet deep in the house.

None of this feels real. I feel like I'm in a poorly scripted movie. The likelihood that we will be able to live in our house is pretty much non-existant. So that leaves us in a pickle. I'm supposed to leave for NYC in exactly 3 weeks. All of this will be figured out though.

My parents came to our rescue. We drove the three cars down to Hohenwald where we are staying with my parents, probably indefinitely. We just have to figure out about Mike's job. I couldn't go to work tonight, either. It's really just such an awful situation.

Sadly, we are far from the only ones affected. A lot of our neighbors are experiencing the same misfortune and even one house down the street caught on fire. Please keep my neighbors, and all of Tennessee affected by this, in your thoughts and prayers.

Thank you so much for all the wonderful tweets and messages thus far. Every kind word goes so so far, I assure you. All of our material items can be replaced. We can't. I'm so thankful and blessed that we're all okay and we had a warm, inviting home to stay at. So many aren't that fortunate.

I've spent the better part of the evening crying. So now I'm going to settle in, watch a movie, and eat junk food to settle my soul. Tomorrow is when Mike and I can start talking serious things. But again, please keep all of my neighbors in your heart/prayers as they continue to battle this throughout the night.

xoxo