By Ralphine Major
It was eerily reminiscent of June 2011. We watched trees 60 feet tall bending as a fierce windstorm approached around 5:30 in the afternoon. Thunder roared! Lights went out! Power was estimated to be restored in about an hour. But then, a new message indicated widespread outage and no estimate of when electricity would be restored. My mind flashed back to the summer of 2011, the year I started writing for The Focus. Power was out four days and three nights after a powerful storm. That week, I was writing three stories for The Focus. Hollywood legends James Drury and Robert Fuller were coming to Morristown, Tennessee. I did phone interviews with both cowboys. With Fuller, I had to stop along Broadway to recharge my phone and call him back. I wrote by lantern light about Drury, Fuller, and the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society. Days were spent at the Fountain City Library typing my stories on the computer and sending to The Focus.
As the recent storm passed, we waited for power and was reminded of just how much we take for granted in our modern-day, convenient world. In the quietness of the evening, we looked out and saw a doe and her baby walking across the pasture. The tiny baby looked to be about a month old. As quickly as I grabbed for my camera, the tiny fawn scampered out of sight into the woods. In that fleeting moment, we deemed the brief sighting a gift from God in a storm. That special image is still etched in my mind even though it is only a blur on my camera.
2021 is significant in many ways. We hope it brings recovery from a global pandemic. It marks five years since we lost legendary Lady Vols Coach Pat Summitt; it is the 20-year anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attack on our country; and it has been ten years almost to the day since the summer storm that turned our region into that of a war-zone look. Thankfully, power was only out for five hours this time. Stay safe in the storms and the storms of life. Have a great summer!
Words of Faith: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” Isaiah 26:3 (KJV).
