So, once you’ve processed that a disaster has happened and all the family is okay, the next step is to start the cleanup… a difficult thing, as you really don’t know where to start.
Everything was just a twisted, jumbled, soggy mess… and it didn’t help that every few days seemed to bring more high winds and rain that soaked everything anew.
We were so blessed by numerous friends and coworkers who came out and spent countless hours wading right in and cutting apart the ruined trusses, stacking twisted tin roofing, and cutting up the downed trees.
Gradually, things began to look shipshape, but it really wasn’t until well into summer, almost fall, that I considered it to be completely cleaned up.
Thankfully, the winds died down during the summer, and only occasionally would things get really soaked under the remaining roof. Numerous loads of trash and scrap metal were hauled off – it was freeing, really, to be rid of a lot of “stuff” (junk, really) that had accumulated.