Happy Anniversary

Saturday September 7th was our one year anniversary. It was on this day in 2018 that we took possession of our new home and began our new life in Nova Scotia. It was on this one year anniversary that Hurricane Dorian blew though.

Let me start by saying we are fine. Our home, animals and friends were all very lucky and made it through the storm.

As a whole the province suffered uncountable trees down, roofs lifted, scattered debris and power outages.

It was not until four days later that I was finally able to return to work. Nova Scotia power and other power companies that came to help, have been working ceaselessly to get us all up and running. With the majority of the province back in power, the trucks are now making their rounds to remove all the limbs that are still tangled in lines, including at our house where we still have a limb precariously balanced on the power lines in our front yard.

People have been amazing. By 8:30 Sunday morning I had a friend stop by to look at the tree on the power lines and assess if we could remove it (we could not!). He then offered his help to remove the limb that had fallen across the driveway. (I said no thanks and sent him home to do his own clean up!). At 9:30 a co-worker and neighbour pulled in making sure we were okay and asking if we needed anything. At noon a fire truck pulled up out front and six men with chainsaws came to cut up the limb and move it off my driveway. While pride kept me from accepting the first offer of help from the friend at 8:30, I did not refuse the help this time. Within 15 minutes the firemen had the tree cut up into manageable pieces for me and moved off the driveway. I was then able to make quick work of cutting up the wood and cleaning it off the yard. I continued to hear stories of neighbours sharing their generators around so everyone could have some time to cool their freezers or run some water. It was very emotional when I got back to work. The YMCA opened their doors to  anyone in the community who was without power and needed to shower, or needed wifi, or needed to charge any devices. I heard of fire halls and churches also offering support and facilities that they had available. I am sure this is all nothing new but I, fortunately, have never been in the path of a natural disaster before and have never witnessed first hand how a community comes together and helps their neighbours. I am so proud to be a part of this          community!

As a final note: Zoe bought a car! She is so proud of herself (rightfully so) having worked all summer and saved her money to buy her little "Blueberry".