Flood

Today I did not go to the brand new wellness center. We spent two hours at what's being called "Sandbag Central" instead. In Fargo, sandbags are being filled around the clock to protect homes and buildings from the impending flood. It was a little scary at first. We went at night when they need more volunteers. It felt like everyone was moving very quickly. Disaster prevention is a serious business. The Army (and/or national guard?), the Salvation Army, the Red Cross and Nechama were all there providing food, volunteers and leadership.

It was very loud with several bulldozers of different sizes hauling around thousands of tons of sand. A lot of beeping and scraping and thumping made yelling necessary. The huge warehouse door was open so that the biggest bulldozers could come in and out of the pouring rain to dump sand. We quickly fell in line, taking turns shoveling and holding bags.

Eventually we 'adopted' a kid who tied off our bags for us and opened new ones. It was very functional. It just shows how helpful people can be no matter what their age or ability. There were quite a few kids there, and they all seemed just as busy as the adults, distributing bag-ties and bags, tying off, opening bags.

School is canceled tomorrow so that everyone can go out and help with sandbagging. Some of our friends and professors are in serious danger of having their houses flooded. T and I have a huge, ominous lake in our backyard that's about 7 feet away from filling our basement. Luckily, T's dad has a pump of some sort and I think they're going to work on that tomorrow before anything gets any worse.

At one point, a man came up to me while I was shovelling and asked if I wanted him to take over. Two months ago, I might have said "okay," but today I smiled at him and said "Nope. I'm good."

I got my exercise and helped the community. Woot.