Support Our Resilience After the Storm

Hi all, I know this is the place for the long story but the short one has been, lost the house, saved the pets! I like to be upbeat & crack a joke. Although when there’s an emergency it is often a fine line to walk.

After the first 2 trees knocked the deck off I thought, that was going to be replaced soon anyway.. as water filled the basement I thought, maybe I’ll just place a few things upstairs, another tree hit while I was trying to drag a trunk upstairs I thought, actually this may be a different problem. After getting upstairs I ran through the house & saw the bedroom ceiling leaking, I ran for a trash can to catch the water I saw the ceiling starting to separate & shift. I tried to shove some things out of the way but the seriousness was escalating, as I head back down the hallway another tree hit & the ceiling fell on me.. a little blurry & hectic now I smelled the natural gas though, the oven range had fallen & I thought maybe it was just laying on all the knobs (much later I found the broken hissing line in the basement..).. I called Steven, who had gone to his brothers celebration of life a few hours away. I had tried not to, it was a hard enough day for him! But after the trees started coming in I really had to “hey I hate to interrupt, what if you could only save 1 guitar tho? Quick!” At this point our incredible neighbor came over to check on me & get me out (I definitely had a who is visiting me right now moment) we got the dogs to his house & the cats to my car. One of our dogs tried to run away twice during the hurricane, storm surge? Our landlord is amazing, kind, & it was a beautiful house. I’ve cried on her a couple times now. i stayed with the neighbors, all of us without power or cell but Steven knew where I would be with the pets. His 4 hr drive took 12 hours but he secured a room for us where he has been working downtown & we have been able to find WiFi or cell more around town now.. I feel like I could go on & on about everything the last few days. About the neighborhood next to ours disappearing into a stormy river.. but also how the whole neighborhood started chain sawing the roads for access, about how kind & caring everyone has been or who I have been around. How even in this awful scenario I feel so lucky this is how it went. It could have been so much worse. We’ve been able to carefully pull some stuff out that isn’t water damaged although trees are still blocking easy access into the house.

we need a new place to live & some basic things but overall very grateful!

if you can & want to, of course, I promise I will not squander your donation. As much as I’d like this to be a metal art sale, I don’t have the capacity right now & really need to get my car gas again so I can go to my studio in Weaverville. I’ve heard some good reports from that side & it sure has been a relief to hear!