Nashville

Last weekend we went to Nashville to celebrate Mother's Day and Chip's birthday. It seemed a weird place to do any celebrating, considering the death and destruction caused by the recent floods. Fortunately my in-laws were spared any damage, and that in itself was something to celebrate.

My in-laws live in a very hilly neighborhood. While their street became a river for a while during the storms, no one really had to worry about flooding inside their homes, which are mostly up the hills on higher ground. Unfortunately, they did have to worry about falling trees and mudslides.

Several of their neighbors had significant tree damage. One woman had recently completed a large renovation project on her house. In the blink of an eye, all that work was lost as a tree crushed her kitchen, garage, and two cars.

Another family in the neighborhood- early 30s, with a one-year-old son- had their house knocked right off its foundation by a massive mudslide. From the street, it didn't look like anything had happened. But if you ventured up their steep driveway and into their backyard, you could see the devastation. While we were nosing around and taking pictures, someone from the power company showed up to shut off their power. "This house is coming down," he said. The family and their furniture were gone, but I doubt their mortgage is.

We saw a lot more scenes like this in the little bit of driving around we did. It is going to be a LONG time before Nashville is back to normal. Don't forget about them, folks.