The Love Is Pouring In

"There's a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in" - Leonard Cohen


There must be a crack in Moore.  There's lots of love and light pouring in around here today.  I've been helping Julie run some errands today while Ralph is sorting through and salvaging stuff from their house.  Everywhere we went, people were happy to help.  The health department was offering free tetanus shots, so we went over there.  Turns out, Julie had already had a recent booster.  I had no idea the last time I had one, so they gave me one.  (My records are all at Tinker.)  The health department ladies all know us sort of because they used to be housed in the building right behind the library where we work.  (The police station is there now.)

We reserved a trailer for Ralph to rent at the little U-Haul place that is at the gas station I always go to.  The man there recognized me, and I told him Julie worked with me at the library.  He had a trailer the right type and size for them to use, and told them right now it is 24 hour bookings only, but that's all they need.  If they need it again, they can see if they can reserve it for another 24 hours.

Julie and I walked up to the Crest grocery store on the corner of 12th and Eastern and bought some stuff to make sandwiches for lunch.  Ralph was back over here after picking up the trailer, so we all had lunch.

Turns out, we could have just gone over to the library parking lot and gotten BBQ chicken, or a burger, or hot dog, lots and lots of good food being cooked right there at the library/community center parking lot.  We found this out when Julie and I went over to drop off the oatmeal-peanutbutter-chocolate chip cookies I made at the police station.  I told the ladies there that Ted Belling, Jerry Cambpell, and Daniel Melendez could vouch for the quality of my cookies.  They laughed.  But they gladly took the cookies.

There are organizations from all over the country here cooking hot meals for people who no longer have kitchens, landlords that have offered unoccupied properties to victims needing a place to stay, college campuses opening the recently vacated residence halls, animal welfare groups working with local vets to set up a shelter for displaced pets at the fairgrounds, so very much love.  People are not as awful as some would have us believe.  People see something like this happen, and they want to reach out, they want to help.  It is heartwarming when it is your town that needs the help.

What hurts is when the novelty wears off, but the aftereffects are still here to be dealt with.  Then, we need the folks who are willing to help rebuild, to help sort out insurance and other legal details, to advise homeowners who are most likely still overwhelmed and overtaxed.  There are local builders here in Moore who handled this before in '99 and 2003, and they are ready to do it all again. Our chamber of commerce has been through this before, too, and they have a new building because of the '99 tornado.  They are gearing up to help with FEMA and SBA paperwork, help the local businesses get the help they need.  Our library is already back open, offering a quiet place to sit and read, use the computer, find information they may need.  Heck, today my boss was offering suggestions on driving routes that would help folks get where they want to go around the damaged areas.  Our tech team has worked overtime, and just as Julie and I were leaving, internet connectivity was restored, which means we will likely be back to business as usual when I go in tomorrow at 12:30.
Our library will be there to offer whatever services, information, and comfort we can, just like we did last time.  These are our neighbors.  These are our friends.  Some of those little children who died were ones I had come up and ask me to look up their card number when they came to the library.  I will miss them. They, like most of our kids here, were polite and happy kids, fun to have around.

It is a shame, but often it takes something like this to remind us just how much we love each other.  Friends who have been there when you needed them are precious.  How much more precious it is to be able to offer the comforts we have to them when they need us.  It makes me very happy that I can do this.  I will smile a little more at the little ones who come in.  How precious it is to have those children using their library, and coming to us rather than going someplace else to "hang out" after school.  I will hug my coworkers and spoil them more because I really, really enjoy working with these people.  They are dedicated and creative, and they all love books as much as I do.

Then there is our Warren Theatre.  Bill Warren has already said the theatre will reopen on the 29th.  He'd open earlier, but there are some supplies needed to do the necessary repairs that won't be available that soon.  The Warren works with all community agencies on a regular basis, often partnering with the library to sponsor a "Big Read" movie night, when they show a movie that was made from the Big Read book, or is related to the subject of the book.
Our local Chic-Fil-A is going to reopen soon, but today they were handing out chicken sandwiches at the community center and other places around town.  They are big supporters of the library, and are always asking what they can do to help.
One of the liquor stores in town, in my opinion the best one, and the only one I shop at, Moore Liquor, has a marquee out front which is rather infamous around Oklahoma for the jokes Brian posts on it every week.  This week, because of what has happened, it is more sincere and less smart-ass.

I think he's right.  We've done this before.  It's been 14 years, and we've grown a lot since then, but we can do it again.  We can rebuild it even better than it was.  It'll take awhile, and sometimes it'll hurt, but "we'll be okay."

From Moore, America.
Katie