Shannon Stacey


Bringing it home

“Better them than us.”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that phrase. Here in New Hampshire, we’ve got a pretty safe habitat going on. Sure, it gets cold. Freakin cold. The nor’easters suck. (Note to that author who wrote that book set in NH: We do not have Northeasterners. Please.) People do die in the winter here. People do drown in ocean riptides. But tornadoes are very rare and usually pretty low on the F scale. (And usually touch down in Mass rather than up here.) Yes, the occassional hurricane will come in and batter the coast and make it rain really hard over here. (Once again, usually Mass takes the brunt.) Earthquakes are also very rare and very mild. Alligators don’t eat people in NH, tarantulas don’t spring up and land on your head, and you’ve gotta be either stupid or really unlucky to get bit by a poisonous snake. Oh, and we don’t dodge many lava puddles, either.

We are probably one of the safest places in the world as far as natural disasters go. Occasionally Hampton Beach residents will get evacuated if a hurricane comes a little too close, but it’s not part of my everyday world, that’s for sure. Better them than us.

Then I got internet access. I joined communities. Signed up on lists and message boards. Now I’m in the blogosphere. And I worry Every. Freakin. Day. it seems like. People mention things they heard on the news and I’m running for the computer.

Tornadoes are touching down in Oklahoma? Earthquakes in Japan? Bombings in London? Earthquakes in California? Hurricanes in Florida? Unexpected record-breaking lows in Minnesota? A school shooting? Drought? Fire? Somebody I “know” is probably being affected.

I was in Staples picking up ink just now, (I needed ink for the Brother fax AND the Lexmark printer. Oh my aching checkbook.) and I heard a couple talking about the weather down south, and the guy said “Better them than us.”

And I thought of Larissa and her family, with trees down and baby birds missing and evacuation plans in place and wanted to shake him until his teeth rattled in his head. It really brought it home to me how much more aware I am of the planet I live on and what’s going on in other places. And how truly global the romance community is.

So to Larissa and others in the path of the storms, and to our English friends, my thoughts are with y’all.

(Being a part of the online community also introduced y’all into my vocab. I don’t know why nobody else in NH uses it—it’s such a handy word.)

(And NH isn’t necessarily safe for everybody. One day I ran into a friend in the Walmart parking lot—no, not with my truck—and we were standing around talking. After a particularly lengthy battle with wind chill, we were enjoying the balmy weather. It was about 15 degrees, but calm and sunny. So we’re standing out there in just sweatshirts and a woman walked by us. Judging by her face, she probably weighed about 90 lbs, but she had so many layers of down and fleece and you name it on that she could barely walk. And she was still shivering. You should have seen the disgusted look she gave us. And we weren’t even laughing at her!)

10 comments to “Bringing it home”

  1. Kate
    Comment
    1
      · July 7th, 2005 at 1:06 pm · Link

    yeah, what you said. exactly. :penguin::penguin:

    here, have some chocolate. It’s international chocolate day, celebrating the introduction of chocolate in europe in 1550



  2. AngieW
    Comment
    2
      · July 7th, 2005 at 2:33 pm · Link

    That was a really excellent post Shannon. Well said :clap: And I wish you WOULD have rattled his teeth!



  3. Charlene T
    Comment
    3
      · July 7th, 2005 at 4:16 pm · Link

    If that had happened 10 years ago, I’d suspect it was me. :lmao:

    NH: TOO FREAKIN’ COLD!

    And you’re so right about the rest.



  4. THIS! Christine
    Comment
    4
      · July 7th, 2005 at 4:20 pm · Link

    Sigh. Yes, exactly Shan. I try to explain to my ‘in person’ friends, the wealth and diversity of my online social life, and they look at me rather sadly, pityingly that I’m reduced to this. This? I’m enriched. And a better, more accepting person for my exsposure to everything outside my previously narrow sphere of concerns.

    X



  5. Mel
    Comment
    5
      · July 7th, 2005 at 7:28 pm · Link

    Shan, so well said… but then again, you’re rather good at that!

    X, I totally understand. My best friends are online–isnt’ that amazing?



  6. Shannon
    Comment
    6
      · July 8th, 2005 at 7:45 pm · Link

    :lmao:, Charlene!

    And X said it so much better than I did. Perfect! :kiss:

    (I’m a bit scarce, but if all goes well, I’ll have a new toy—to drive—tomorrow, plus I’ve gotta get my RTB column done before we leave in the morning!)

    :write:



  7. Charlie
    Comment
    7
      · July 9th, 2005 at 6:43 pm · Link

    :neener: Don’t have a comment on your post but I have been far too busy lately and haven’t had time to bother you so I thought now that I had a few extra minutes I’d drop by and let you know I haven’t forgotten you :dance:

    Is that sentence long enough or should I have kept going :crazy:



  8. Sasha
    Comment
    8
      · July 10th, 2005 at 12:36 pm · Link

    Bravo! Well said Shan!:clap:



  9. Shannon
    Comment
    9
      · July 10th, 2005 at 10:51 pm · Link

    Do you know how many commas I could fit into that sentence, Charlie? :woot:



  10. Anna
    Comment
    10
      · July 13th, 2005 at 11:11 am · Link

    Thanks, love. And I’m constantly amazed by how global my friends are.







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