Pacing yourself is the key to maintaining a happy and healthy outlook for someone with Fibromyalgia. I have learned this lesson, and yet I am still learning it. Don’t over do it, take breaks when you can even if you don’t think you need to. I had to keep this foremost in mind when facing an F4 tornado this summer. Although you have contractors working for you to repair the damage, there is a lot of stress to the whole process. Even more so if you are a control freak like me.
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| Almost every home or business impacted by the F4 looked like this. |
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| Only 2 houses away. The young man in this home protected his sister and her friend by grabbing them and covering them with his body. I went to school with his father. Tommy, you raised your son well. |
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| Too often the scene, where does one begin? |
There were days when I couldn’t face the clean up needed. What I did to get through it was to tell myself to take 1 square foot at a time. Kind of like the grids they set up in a crime scene investigation. Focus on one small area and do not become overwhelmed with the whole grid. For example: it took weeks and 7 cans of paint to repaint my trellis on the patio. There were days I sat in a motorized cart to ease the stress on my body. Yes it took a long time to accomplish, but by golly I got it done! I had some help with the rafters and I made sure I had help with the ladder portions. By planning out how I was going to do the job, it allowed me to reduce the stress.
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Thank you signs went up everywhere. Thank you is only a beginning to what we wished to express to the volunteers, family and friends that helped with the clean up. |
I kept a positive attitude by thinking of what my remodel would like when it was completed. You see, I like to design and decorate things. I can’t help it…I am also addicted to HGTV. I confess, it gets me through the day. (LoL) It was also very rewarding to see it all come together. It took several months, but we did it! I could not have done it without the help and love from friends and neighbors.
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After 7 cans of paint, finally!
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Yay, the siding is going on!
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Awesome new garage doors to go with the new roofs, siding, paint, insulation and more. |
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When something like this hits your community, you realize no movie scene can do it justice. There is debris everywhere and sticking out in all directions and embedded into the ground so far you cannot pull it out by hand or truck, but you must do it by a bull dozer. Families are left homeless, missing animals and family members. And yet…the community pulls together and it is so emotional, all you do is cry when you say ‘thank you’ to those who have helped you. Were it not for the love and hope shown at a time like this, one would find it very hard to go on. We were lucky; the tornado was headed straight for my home when it turned at the gas meter and hit my neighbors. They were not so lucky…many lost their homes or had damage more severe than we faced. This was a new lease on life I was given. I took that lease and decided to use it to the fullest, one step at a time.
