Facing The Destruction ~

It's me once again.. you know I must be really needing therapy when it's only been two days since my last post! A lot has happened in two days. I have to say, that I have never faced anything like this in my life. Have I said this before.. if I have, just bear with me. All these emotions rolled up into one, the anger, the disbelief, the sadness, the uncertainty, feeling frightened, confused,  vulnerable, irritated, and last but not least, feeling lost and defeated at times.

Wow, that's a lot to feel, even I didn't realize all of this, until I typed it.  Looking back at those words, the anger that this didn't have to happen, that "someone" dropped the ball on Minot, North Dakota. The disbelief that this could happen to the wonderful people in our beautiful little town and the sadness when I realized, yes, this really happened., this isn't a bad dream, this is a living nightmare. I am so tired of feeling these things, I have always been pretty self confident,  well.. let me tell you, when you have been humbled and brought to your knees, you wonder, where did that self confidence go?  I am finally in the irritated stage of this process.. no I am beyond irritated.. more on this in a minute.  I decided today I will not be lost and I damn sure will not be defeated. After all, my friends in Mississippi call me a Steel Magnolia, and Jerry Pitts (my dad) didn't raise me to lay down and give up. My sister Lynn was kind enough to remind me of this, (in not such nice terms this morning) when I really needed a swift  kick in the butt!!  Thanks sissy, "I love you ..always have, always will".  :)

I just want to say, if you don't mind me rambling.. (whoever is reading, bless your heart), sorry.. STEAMROLLER~  that some people love to kick you when you're down.. I found this out last night. This person will remain nameless, because he is simply not worth mentioning in MY blog.  I tolerate this idiot  only because I have to, at least for another three years, and then he has a one way ticket out of my life forever.  I have learned over that last ten years that some people love to make a profit off of your heartbreak. There are those horrible people that enjoy when another person is in pain and having a difficult time, I call that evil, but in plain truth, they are just very unhappy individuals that take pleasure when someone else is hurting.. I know.. sad .. right?  But as my grandmother used to say, "what goes around, comes around", and eventually, he will have burned many bridges that can not be mended!! And I will not pity him in the least!! So the moral of this paragraph is.. Trish needed to vent and second, it will all work out in the long run, I am so over this part.. thanks for sticking with me.. so far!!

Tonight,  I went to a meeting for Zone 4, I wasn't really sure what I was going to hear or see. I think I wasted my time, because all I got was chest pains and my blood pressure was shooting straight up. I found out that if my house is demolished by the city of Minot, because they have to build dikes, or levees, or because my house simply is destroyed by the water and can not be repaired... I HAVE TO PAY TO HAVE IT DEMOLISHED!!!  Hmmm.. whats wrong with this? The city didn't build the levees and the dikes up enough during those two weeks before all hell broke loose and now I will have to pay for it myself.  I will tell you this.. that is not gonna happen with this girl!! That house can stay right there and eventually fall over by it's self before I pay to tear it down. I may have a mandatory demolition, but I have to pay for it? Is this right? Our wonderful alderman couldn't give us any straight answers tonight, I finally yelled out what was in my last blog.. "we need simple answers".. yes.. Trish yelled!!  It kind of felt good to yell, I have to say ~ LOL~  I feel that the ONLY guy that was truthful tonight , was the FEMA director.. yea.. I know.. go figure.. but I have to say, he actually did not sugar coat anything. Give me this guy any time over our local officials. I am so tired of hearing the same political BS over and over. Remember in my second paragraph I spoke of irritation.. here was just a speck of my irritation tonight.. Where was Minot's Mayor tonight?  He never showed his face at this meeting. Thank you for that "Mr. Mayor", I sincerely appreciate your concern for your citizens of Zone 4. I WILL remember this come election time.  Dozens of folks were walking out of this meeting tonight. I was one of them.

I was able to get over to Maple Street tonight and see some of my old neighborhood. I could only go so far due to water still being in the area. I did drive through some water only after I saw a car drive through. I stopped the guy and he assured me that my car would be okay going through it and it was!! While I was still several blocks from my house, what I saw was devastating to say the least.  Houses looked like they were in a black and white movie. A cream colored house on 2nd Ave and the yard were the same color. You could tell  that the picture I took and posted on Face Book, wasn't black and white when you see the orange tag that was placed on the door by the National Guard, showing that the house had been checked and no one was still at home during the  emergency evacuation.  All I can say is, this was not my house or my property, but I cried as if it were!! My heart was breaking for these home owners.  Windows were broken, houses were covered in mud . You could see just how high the water levels were due to the huge water ring on the structure of the homes. Even the trees had markings of how high the levels were.  The green grass is now brown, entire flower beds are just gone, simply washed away. There was debris  every where. It looked like "the day after" or what you would imagine the "day after " would look like. 

So, tomorrow, when I get off work at noon, I have a  bit of shopping to do. I have to purchase some wading boots,  and some masks. I am going to try to get in my own neighborhood, via a huge truck. I don't care if there is "some" water still in the street or on my lawn. If I can get these guys to take me in, We're GOING IN!!  It's time for me to "face the destruction". I am sure that after Friday July 15, 2011, Trish Pitts will never look at life quite the same as before. That's okay, because this flood has a way of changing a person.. either for the better or maybe even the worse, only time will tell!

Minot friends, stay strong, we're all in this thing together!! Thank you for reading, I know.. it was long if you made it through)!!  Take care and good night for now!

As Always~

Trish