Heart Warming

Today was one of those days that warmed my heart, brought a tear to my eye, and made me proud to be a Squirrel.
Due to the flooding in Fargo, Central Cass School, Martin's Lutheran Church, and St. Leo's Church have all been turned into evacuation sites. The people that are evacuated to these sites are all Nursing home residents.
I headed to the school this morning to help out, about 200 other people had the same idea:) Which is pretty cool. We helped get things ready for the people to come at the school and then I headed over to Martin's Church. I helped people get off of the bus and get situated in chairs as the rest of their new home was made ready for them. There was one gal named Norma, who was not thrilled to be at her new home. She tried to go for a run so I spent a few hours with her hanging out. All of the people at Martin's are memory care patients and it made me feel warm inside to spend time with them. I hung out with Norma for a few hours and made sure she was not going to take off an go for a run down the street. She is a pretty quiet gal but I learned a great deal from her today. Norma and the other eleven residents at Martin's will be hanging out for a few days and I plan to go back each day and check on my new buddy to see how she is doing.
After leaving Martin's I decided I would head back to the school and help out again. I helped folks get "checked" into the Central Cass Inn and Suites and met a few more pretty cool people. I have a few favorites that I met there as well. Alice and her husband Arlan, who have been married for 67 years were planning on partying it up in the gym tonight. Then there was Ike who asked me if I would swing by his cot later on and told me stories of where he has lived and experiences over the last 87 years. A sweet gal named Cora was not really sure she wanted to be spending the night at the school but was glad we were there to help. Cora's eyes were so kind I wanted to stare into them all day. There were retired teachers and farmers who also had great stories to tell.
As I watched the people come in and saw how some were scared and others chalked it up to another experience in life, I was humbled by their spirits. There are about 100-200ish people now living at our school and I really hope we can find some fun things for them to do while they are our guests.
I will try to blog more if for no other reason to process what I am experiencing over the next few days or week. All in all I know this is a terrible situation but my heart is warm and many life situations are put into perspective for me. A few things I was worried about last week really do not matter any more;)