On Deadline

Writing a blog on a deadline.. isn't that contradictory to the point at hand?? But here I sit, a battery backup beeping in my ear telling my that any minute the small bit of juice left in it will be gone. And while my laptop is battery powered, the network switches are not. When they are gone, so is our connection to the outside world.

Around us the wind drives the rain into the sides of the building... the large glass panes flex with the pressure and the children still play chase on the other side of the newsroom.

This is always the worst part.... the waiting. Sitting here knowing there are great photos all around and no one can get out of the building. We just heard there is an 18-wheeler turned over on the interstate and no one can get there... not even the ambulance service.

By morning we hope it will all be over... that the storm will have broken and left us to document its damage. But tonight we just wait. Pacing back and worth, falling back to old vices to fill the time.

Yesterday we were on the coast with a family who will likely lose everything. Their home sits only 400 yards from the breakers. I felt like crying as I watched him kiss his wife goodbye and watched her take one last look at the home where she raised her children. Of course there is no time for that now. The only thing to do is to acknowledge the feeling and deal with it later. But I cannot imagine what they will go back to. If anything it will be 24 pilings standing strong... with nothing to hold up but salt air and the hopes of a family.