“Remoted” – Day 415 (Wednesday)

Today, I awoke to the sounds of rain and feeling a million times better than yesterday. On the health front anyway. The psychic pendulum that swings between a joyous “oh hooray, another day!” and a deflated “oh crap, another day,” was at a solidly centered and neutral “oh.” The day progressed as just another monotonous day in not-exactly-paradise.

Deeper Life Church,
Clarksville, TN - May 5, 2010

While today was light years from exciting, it beats this date in 2010. Back then, I lived in Tennessee, we had been flooded, and Cinco de Mayo was clearly Sink-o de Mayo. For a couple days, the few bridges over the two rivers were out and there was no easy way to get to chunks of the city. Crazy times. When I could finally get to the office where I worked, which was two blocks away from the river before the flood, it was nearly waterfront property on the Cumberland River after the flood waters had risen. River water halfway up the doors added new meaning to the Deeper Life Church.

Down the street from my house
 in Tennessee, May 3, 2010

My house, which sat atop a hill across town and closer to the Red River, stayed dry, but houses at the bottom of my street, just a quarter-mile away, were underwater in the most literal sense.

Our recent rainy weather, and pretty much any time it rains, has me skittish, checking the basement regularly, and thanking it for remaining mostly dry. Since I’ve been back in Massachusetts, I don’t think we’ve seen rains like Tennessee in 2010, but my Lowell basement has definitely seen a lot more water than my Tennessee basement saw with the flood. The worst since I’ve been here was less than an inch on most of the floor, but during the Lowell floods in May, 2006 and April 2007, the basement of my current house was an indoor pool. As a result, I get a little antsy when it rains.