More than anything, I'm thankful that my family is, for the time being, safe and on high ground.
But I'm still fighting shock at seeing pictures of the town I grew up in looking like a disaster area. Because it is a disaster area. Even knowing that the people I love aren't in immediate danger, I'm surprised by how my eyes well with tears every time I see a picture like the one above. I can't even articulate exactly why.
Maybe it's because when we left, I assumed I'd always have the option to come back again and find everything right where I left it. Just before all the flooding started, Matt and I felt like we had come to terms with the fact that we intended to move back to the Midwest, sooner rather than later, and were pleased with the idea. We'd started fantasizing about hanging out at some of our old haunts again, and liked the idea of raising kids in an area that was so familiar to us.
That's still in the plans, but for better or for worse, I think it's safe to say that Cedar Rapids and Iowa City--the towns where I grew up, graduated college, became a nurse, got engaged--will never be quite the same.
That, and being so far away when it's all happening, are difficult things to come to terms with.
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