Things and Stuff

Now this whole experience has really made me realize what is important, like being alive and not possessions, but I can't help it, maybe it's a female thing but I really enjoy shopping! And I must be old, because I've been too excited and motivated to restock our cleaning supplies to clean up this rental house. And partially thanks to my fabulous family, I just purchased the steam mop I've been wanting ever since I used one to help Jenn move into her house! I'm getting too domestic and adult-like!

But the point of this is that there actually are some THINGS and STUFF that are important, but the key is that they are replaceable: like a good bed! We spent about 2 hours at the furniture store this weekend laying on beds and it was awesome. In the end, J really upgraded and bought us a really nice one, and I can already tell the difference. I feel so much more rested! Maybe it's coming from sleeping on guest beds for 2 weeks, but I think it's the bed. And good sleep and being rested is so important to everything else in life, especially for me. I really feel back to normal now that I'm sleeping really well. So even though it's a material thing, it is important, and we did actually have to replace it.

Which brings me to my next realization: there is always some good even in horrible things. I probably talked about this before too, but even in this tragedy where there was so much destruction and death, good things come out of it. Foremost is the outpouring of support and community. There were so many volunteers they had to be turned away. We didn't even have to clean up our backyard because volunteers came and did it for us. When I first went to the post office, I was walking out to my car and a lady just jumped out of her's and ran over to see if I was okay. She lived across from Plaza Towers, had been home with her kids in the shelter, just lost her whole house, and here she was asking ME if I was okay. These are the people here. This is the good. After the Boston Bombing everyone was talking about the quote from Mr. Rogers: look for the helpers. They were EVERYWHERE here. And here's the good for us personally: we may have been displaced, but we are going to be able to rebuild better than before. USAA is no joke. It may take a little bit, but we will be back in Moore.

And on a side note, I mentioned before how our mailbox is messed up so we aren't getting mail at the house, so they set up a mobile post office and gave us a temporary PO Box (still getting mail to our house address). It's in a trailer. Down a dirt road. Next to the train tracks. Jenn put it best; "It's so redneck Lau!" It's these little things that remind me I'm in Oklahoma. Oh, and the Tornadoes. ;)