How I see it: Goodnight, Irene!

Goodnight, Irene. No matter how cliche, that song stuck in my head as I was wishing she'd say good night last Saturday. I live in eastern North Carolina, where the people are hardy and they will tell anyone who'll listen how many hurricanes they've weathered over the years. I've lived through two others, but Irene bested them all.

I sat in my recliner early Saturday morning, having been woken by the wind whistling and whirling outside. I had a book in my lap, but I was more captivated by the tree outside my window. It would almost bend double each time great gusts crashed into it. This happened time and again. As the wind howled and screamed outside, I thought to myself, how much more can that poor tree take? Leaves flew off, trees and branches snapped, and I thought it was just a matter of time before she succumbed.

Fifteen hours later, when Irene stormed up the coast wreaking more havoc in her wake, I walked outside to assess the damage we'd sustained. I was delighted to find our tree, though weathered and beaten, still stood. I went to sleep Saturday night thinking about that tree.

The next day, I awoke to the buzz of chain saws and people talking outside. We threw on some clothes, and my husband and I went from a drive. We dodged downed trees and power lines to see the effects of the hissy fit Irene had thrown the day before. The damage in our neighborhood was substantial. Almost no home had been left untouched.

As I pulled on my work gloves and started raking up the debris, I noticed we had a glorious day to clean up. Blue skies, no clouds in sight and when you breathed in, the air was crisp and new.

I thought again about our tree. It didn't take me long to see the application to life. How many times are we driven to our knees by life's storms? At the time, they seem relentless, and you don't know how many more hits you'll survive without snapping. You may even feel you lose parts of yourself along the way, limbs that are painful to be without. But, at the end of the day, it's a victory to still be standing, even if you are storm-tossed and weather beaten.

Another truth. After a hurricane, the sun comes out and the blue skies return. No matter how wicked the rain, no matter how strong the winds, they do end. Always. That parallels life too. And, that's how I see it...

"It is only in sorrow bad weather masters us; in joy we face the storm and defy it."

---Amelia Barr