November 18, 2024 . I Holiday décor began showing up on a few store shelves in the middle of summer, so it’s not like we didn’t have plenty of notice. We were sailing right along and then the unexpected, unprecedented and awful happened, changing everything for the majority, and affecting all of us in ways we’d like to forget. Some of us were sad before Helene even arrived; for countless others, the storm compounded sadness and deep grief with losing not only loved ones, but homes, vehicles, jobs, and in some cases everything but the shirt on their backs. There’s nothing “normal” about any of this, and I’m not sure when complete recovery will be possible. Even though we are making strides, overall, I don’t know of too many people in our mountainous area who are really thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas like we “normally” do. We’re noticing the Choose-N-Cut signs going up on the roadsides and trucks loaded down with trees, and we’re really glad for that. But still, many of our tree farmers suffered, too. Overall, a lot is different this year for most of us, and for several different reasons. Some of us are still dealing with survivor’s guilt because we still have our home, our vehicles and so much more. By Sherrie Norris
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