Blustery

So sorry it's been a while! I have many things to post about, but I've been slow to post them. Once again, my mom has called me up and asked me what's going on in my life because apparently she reads my blog and misses me when I don't write.

Well, I'll try to summarize some of the major things going on right now.

You may or may not have heard about the windstorms in Davis County on December 2. I did. I heard the winds themselves, howling around my window for about 10 hours straight. Bountiful wasn't the worst hit, but it did get slammed pretty hard by the gusts.

I've lived through tornadoes, earthquakes, even flooding (yes, Mom, remember when the creek in the greenbelt in Michigan overflowed and crept up through the trees until we could see it from our backyard? Yep, I remember that, and it freaked me out a little back then.) But those winds were scary.

You've probably read a lot about the stats of the windstorm. If you didn't, you can. There are definitely news articles about it. Hurricane-force winds will do a lot of damage when they blow steadily for 8-10 hours.

Most of the damage came in the form of pine trees falling over. You couldn't go more than a block without seeing at least one big tree lying at the wrong angle. So on Sunday, at the request of the area authorities, all of the wards either canceled or shortened their church meetings, and everyone went out to serve. A big windstorm was expected to kick up again on Sunday night, which contributed to the urgency, but, like the Mammoth Blizzard of 2010, it ended up being extremely underwhelming. Though in this case, no one in Davis County was the least bit disappointed about that. The county is still recovering from the first windstorm and none of us wanted a second one.

So I and a group of my friends went out to one of the debris-dumping sites and unloaded branches and stumps from all of the trucks that came through. If I'd tried to keep count of the number of trucks and trailers we unloaded (which I didn't) I definitely would have lost count. Hundreds. We filled up a church-sized parking lot with debris. I have scratches on my legs, pine-needle-pricks in my hands, a coat that smells permanently of tree sap and pine branches, and aching muscles, but that was one of the most rewarding days I've had in a very long time.

It was awe-inspiring to see an entire city of people at work to clean up the damage. People brought out their pick-up trucks, saws, axes, shovels, and rakes, and cruised the streets looking for anyone who needed their help. Young people, like me, who didn't have any equipment, just added extra hands to the loading and unloading. Many of the women who had children to look after helped by bringing warm muffins, cookies, and gallon after gallon of hot chocolate to everyone else. 

I don't always have the opportunity to serve like that. The pressures of working everyday, saving money, and trying to find transportation make it hard to find the time.