September 16, 2018 Times of stress inevitably signal the value of friends, especially when you have no family within reach. There probably isn’t much that demonstrates this more vividly than our reaction to an approaching hurricane. Watching people explain why they are remaining in the path of Florence, described by the media as the hurricane of a lifetime, was painful. Especially when it was coming from people with little kids. The reason most commonly given was that it simply cost too much to leave. Others explained that they hated the heavy traffic. And a few that they had pets.
“It’s okay,” they were saying. “We’ll be fine.”
The TV weather people were predicting that the hurricane might come north along the coastline, which would target us. While we were making plans, trying to figure out how we’d handle our three cats, we received a call from friends in Bainbridge, located in western Georgia. “If it gets anywhere near you,” they said, “come on over.” Problem solved.
It reminded me that we have friends in the Carolinas, and a responsibility toward them.