Hendersonville, North Carolina.

It seems like only yesterday.

In 2 days it will be a month since Hurricane Helene devoured parts of North Carolina swallowing everything in its path.

4 days of rain. High winds.

We woke up to no power, no water and no cell phone service. We couldn’t turn on the tv news. My husband left to go to the store to get instant coffee, knowing we could boil water on our gas stove. He returned a few minutes later; he couldn’t get through as the Main Street was flooded.

That was the beginning of living without power, water and cell service. We had to empty the freezer and refrigerator and drive to the transfer station to dump it, as garbage pick-up ceased.

Many of the grocery stores were closed because they didn’t have generators. The few gas stations that were open resulted in them running out of gas, so they closed. We were in luck driving at 3am in the morning to a gas station open all night. The lines were long; we only waited an hour to get gas.

Cash only became the only way to get food or gas. Eventually ATM’s ran out of money.

We were lucky, no damage to our house, but a huge evergreen tree fell over taking part of our fence with it. Houses in our neighborhood were still standing, but sadly trees that once beautified yards were not.

Ours became a neighborhood of friends showing kindness reaching out to help each other.

The constant hum of chain saws can still be heard.

Piles of leaves, branches, and logs sit at the edge of lawns waiting for pick up by the town.

Luckily our entire town wasn’t washed away, but many people’s homes were. And many areas flooded.

Helicopters flew overhead many times a day in the direction of the towns that were no longer; people’s livelihoods washed away down a mountain.

Helicopters: a welcoming sign of hope.

Displaced people and pets are now being housed in local schools, churches and recreation places.

For us life is finally getting back to normal. My husband bought a chainsaw and has been removing branches from the evergreen tree.

It’s easy to pick up the pieces. Thinking about all the people who don’t have pieces to pick up.