We live in Western NC and as many have seen on the news, it is utter devastation. We are alive and well as are our loved ones and no major damage other than a roof leak and a little flooding in the basement. We are the lucky ones and the few. So many have lost everything including their lives. No one could have ever expected this...not like this. 
 

At the beginning of the storm we still had power and cell service. At about hour 3 all of that was wiped out. We had no way to communicate with anyone and no way to make sure my 7yr old SD was ok. We have a large truck and kayaks and I was 100% on board with driving to their house (SD was with toxic ex narcissistic manipulator bio mom) to make sure they weren't stuck on top of their roof admist rising flood waters. It took a long round about and creative way for us to get there as there were many roads flooded and washed out but when we arrived bio mom and SD were dry and safe and actually playing outside. Just down the road 1/4 mile was flood waters but it did not reach their house. 

After making sure that they had water/food/propane etc to which her reply was "we are fine" we left. Baby girl is safe, sigh of relief!! 
 

Keep in mind this woman (toxic ex narcissistic manipulator bio mom) is a grown woman, country gal who as much as i dislike her and hold zero respect for her as a decent human being, she is resourceful. She is also a sibling of 8 with family all over. Many many people that will come together to make sure they are all ok. Again, we made sure SD was so that we could breathe relief. 
 

After we left my SO immediately started in saying "maybe we should take them some food, maybe they need more propane, maybe we should find a generator and take them so SD won't be bored to tears (TV/DVD) and they can save food in their fridge etc. Perhaps my fuse is short when it comes to this woman. If you only knew the lengths to which she has gone to try and run me off and manipulate every single possible situation. Thankfully it hasn't ever worked to her advantage but I know the snake that this woman is. I see her clearly. 
 

Anyhow I responded in an aggravated tone "she said they were fine". This created a "fight" because he's going to make sure his daughter is ok and it has nothing to do with ex crazy. Again I said "she said they were fine!"

No resolution. Anyhow as we are the lucky ones, we spent time checking on and trying to help anyone we could (still are) cutting trees and moving debris, moving by dirt and gravel to try and build back up roads so a 97 year old lady could get out of her driveway and to the doctor. 
 

When we realized major interstates were shut down and fuel shortages in full force we found an alternate route to Knoxville TN and loaded up on 150 gallons of gasoline and 150 gallons of diesel and found two generators. There were cars stranded on sides of roads all over that ran out of gas. We tried to help as many people as possible. 
 

As we were coming back from TN my SO was in a rush to get back so he could take bio mom some fuel and let her use one of the generators. Remember they were fine. This woman even had dry ice for her food. I had asked SD if she was bored without tv or electronics and she said no...they had been to a neighbors that somehow kept power and WiFi so they had been there to hang out and had a hot shower and watched YouTube. They were fine!!!

At this point I had just let it go about his over the top need to be the hero and maybe I just have to. Maybe I am being petty about it. Maybe I have such a distaste for this woman that any amount of kindness shown to her I feel she will take the wrong way. It's not for her. I don't know... Ugghh I just don't know  

Anyhow we arrived and they were cleaning out coolers outside because at day 4 their power was restored. Literally 5 minutes before we pulled up to "save the day" with fuel and a generator they had power (a week before we did). 
 

On another note the generator and fuel has been provided to those that truly need it (thankfully) and we have continued trying to to help as much as we can. 
 

It's a long road back to normalcy around here and for any of you wanting to help, Samaritans Purse has been here in full force out of the gate. Local churches are also the ones leading this effort. 
 

There are hundreds dead, thousands who have lost everything and so many still without power. Entire water systems destroyed. It's getting cold now so that is the biggest concern. 
 

In the grand scheme of things I am extremely grateful to be alive well and safe as well as have the ability to get out and help. I need to figure out if I need to communicate a boundary issue here with SO or if the issue is me. 
 

I will say anytime someone is in need or in trouble my SO is the first to want to jump in and help. It is one of the things that I love about him but there are many times it's so reactive without much thought that I sit back and cringe hoping for an alternative. Case and point a teenager that we don't know that goes to my SS school lost his father in a terrible chain of events some months ago. My SOs immediate response was "babe if he needs somewhere to live he is moving in with us. We can't let him suffer and not have a good life". 
 

In my mind I'm screaming "please god let this boy have somewhere to go!" While outwardly my response is "baby i know you want to help and i love that about you but slow down for a bit. He probably has somewhere and someone but if in fact it turns out that he doesn't then we will do whatever we have to do to help this boy". In the end he had family that he had been planning to move in with anyhow. He's in church and counseling and being well taken care of.  
 

Cheers