Being Thankful

The bejewelled branches of the willow tree sparkled like diamonds. All of nature’s Christmas lights shone with a special kind of twinkle and illuminated the surrounding bushes with their own kind of beauty. When we awoke this morning it was to a world dripping with ice and no hydro. Our first thoughts went to the publishing of the Two Row Times and to thoughts of, if and when we would get our electricity back. Nature has a way of reminding us that she is indeed in charge, and letting us know that we should always be thankful for the kindness she shows us.

After unsuccessfully trying to reach hydro, we then found that we had no internet service. The word, “desperation” doesn’t quite cover the gamut of emotions that assaulted us. Many of the roads on Six Nations were impassable for a period of time and seemed to provide an eerie parallel to the problems we were facing. So, faced with the challenge of having no hydro, no internet and icy roads, we knew we had our work cut out for us. When Mother Nature speaks everyone better sit up and pay attention.

The storm that hit the Six Nations/Brantford area had been predicted for several days and was not a surprise but one would never know by how strongly we were affected. A low pressure system from Texas brought a significant amount of moisture that connected with a colder northerly flow which resulted in freezing rain and additional amounts of rainfall in the order of 10-15 millimeters. Mother Nature displayed for us her own ability to decorate beauteously and create havoc. Our office looked particularly pretty and distinctly cold.

While we admired the loveliness of our surroundings, we were also busily placing phone calls to try and re-establish some sort of “connection”. We managed to get a hold of a generator and then had to figure out a way to download all of our pertinent files, all the while clearing away the ice from in front of our building. The ensuing rush to get into our ‘server’ and gain access was slightly comical. The whole issue of electricity became a flickering desire that was satiated by a 5000w generator. Our work then became a blinding, blizzard of activity.

Mother Nature has a way of teaching lessons without us actually being aware of them at the time. The storm that bore down upon us brought with it eye-opening awareness at our vulnerability and interdependence. We managed to complete this issue through the help of our friends and some sheer grit and determination. We are grateful that we were able to overcome all the obstacles that were strewn across our path. Mother Nature certainly has a sense of humour. Feel free to smile. We did…