Sharing the love

by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . May 11, 2010 . 8:30PM

Sometimes, someone says something in a way that I wish I could or hoped I could or want to, but just can’t. And those are the times that I ask you to read something someone else wrote in the hopes that it can make you feel the way I felt when I read it.

So, please read this post. You’ll be glad you did. It speaks to the heart of how Nashvillians feel right now.

Hello America Letter

Nashville Flooding

by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . May 4, 2010 . 1:01AM

I’m tired. There was flooding in Nashville all weekend, but with the national coverage, you would really only think it happened today and was over in a short time. Franklin, TN has areas that are wiped out. Nashville has areas that are wiped out. So do the other surrounding areas.

Because I’m tired, I’m also incoherent. I should have written this post about 5 hours ago, but I was just really happy to be in my house. I spent the weekend at my friend Bryan’s parent’s house (did you get that?) where I was essentially trapped for the weekend due to the weather. Thankfully, his parents are gracious and were incredibly accommodating.

Please keep the people of Nashville in your thoughts. Nashville has a small downtown area and is made up of the surrounding areas, all which were hit very hard. We have many dead and our schools in the downtown area are still out. There is possible contamination of our water and we are under orders to conserve.

Pictures are worth a thousand words. Credit to my anonymous picture donor, who knows who he is.

We are not anonymous. We are a community of people who stick together and work hard to make Nashville an amazing place to live. This is devastating.

Edit: Please go read this link for another personal flood story: http://twt.tl/6lUMyOp

Let it snow!

by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . January 7, 2010 . 5:53PM

In Tennessee, we rarely experience snow. Our weather doesn’t fluctuate often and this week we experienced our most extreme temperatures as they dropped down to single digits. Luckily, this happens, at most, once or twice a year. We may get snow 2-3 times a year. As I grew up in Illinois, snow doesn’t bother me and I am fine with driving on ice, black ice, freezing rain and snow.

People from Tennessee do not share this sentiment with me.

In fact, I would say that the term that applies to the fine folks here is “scared to death of snow and ice.” Last night, before a single flake of snow had fallen or flurried, the mere thought of snow had schools cancelled. This is how it has been here for the duration of the time I’ve lived here.

Schools have been cancelled tomorrow due to the threat of refreezing. Logically, I understand this. There are plenty of winding roads and hills and valleys here. Buses cannot safely travel them and if you can’t get kids to school safely, school should be cancelled.

What I don’t understand is the mad rush to the grocery stores to buy necessities? At most, the snow will last one day. I don’t know of anyone that doesn’t have a days worth of food in their home. Those that don’t have food don’t have the funds to mad rush Kroger.

When I lived in rural Arkansas, storms knocked the power out for days and it couldn’t be restored. They had a genuine reason for fear. In the Metro Nashville and surrounding areas, we generally don’t experience this phenomenon.

I’m not knocking my TN folks. I love living here and the people are second to none. I’ve just lived in different conditions. We’d go to school in 6 inches of snow. Teenagers, myself included, drove in it. Nothing was canceled and even when there was little heat in the schools, we went. No, I didn’t walk in 3 feet of it, smart alecks. But we did have the old school radiators and it was cold!

I just think it’s kind of…wimpy.

There. I said it. I think it’s wimpy.

I want enough snow to make forts like we used to when I was a kid and lived across from a church. They would plow the church and the entire small neighborhood would choose a side of the plowed area, dig into it and we’d have serious snowball fights. We’d sled down the 8-10 foot forts for hours. When we were done, we’d go into the house, have some hot chocolate, warm up, and be back out within the hour.

As I got older, and had older friends, we took it to the next level. There were bigger sleds and bigger hills at the park. One friend had a house in a rural setting and four, yes four, of us went down a hill at a time. I remember being between Rich and Chad and the sled tilting as we crashed into trees. I had a huge scrape on my cheek, but I couldn’t stop laughing.

Or Dave and I power sledding down what we thought was snow, but was really ice on the largest hill in the park. That was a huge mistake.

Or James and I attempting to snowboard down the hill behind his house and me biting it and vowing that I would never faceplant again because I was “never doing this crap snowboarding” again.

Or Jenny and Rachael throwing snowballs at me while I tried to get in the fort more quickly.

Or Olivia sprinkling Reindeer food on the snow so Santa would come.

Yes, please let it snow. I want my son to have memories like mine, too. Even if it’s just 2 inches of snow to make angels in or some flurries.