The End of the Flood

People in Nashville are continuing to recover from the flood that hit back in May. Many will be rebuilding homes and business for months to come. Two stories came to light from opposite ends of the emotional spectrum though that somewhat closed the story on the flood.

The Grand Ole Opry returns to its home at the Opry House tonight. The show is sold out and an incredible line up of artists are scheduled to perform. Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Martina McBride, Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley, Josh Turner and Jason Aldean are some of the contemporary artists scheduled to appear along with many of legendary performers that have been members for decades. It will be a night of celebration for the Opry and the community. In many ways the Opry returning home marks the end of the recovery from the flood. This event will bring what a lot of people call "closure".

On the other side of town though, there is closure without the happy ending. Just yesterday the body of Danny Tomlinson was found in the Harpeth River. Mr. Tomlinson had been missing since he was swept downstream during the flood. His family and friends have spent hours and days time and again searching the river hoping to find his body. His sister was the one who found him. Today Metro Police positively identified the body.

What an odd coincidence; these two stories from the same town. In a way they both mark an end to the flood recovery. One is a story of happiness and history. The other is a story of loss and sadness. Even though it is believed that Mr. Tomlinson was the last person still unaccounted for from the flood, there's still a long way to go in some of these neighborhoods.

I hope that everyone is happy the Opry is back home. I'm a big fan of the institution and its place in American music history. I just also hope that all the families still mourning their losses can one day celebrate in their own way.

Los Angeles

Cleaning out some files, I found this little piece I wrote on July 26, 2000. It's about a time I was out west. I had been in Sweet Home, Oregon and one of my brothers who lived in Oregon at the time came to meet me. We had to drive all night from there to San Bernadino which is east of Los Angeles. That's a long drive in one night. We were excited about going through L. A. since he'd never been there before. Anyway, here's what I wrote about it ten years ago.

We started out way the heck up north in the mountains. It was already dark and we're going east of L. A. It's been dark a long time now.

We just talked and passed the time all the way out of the mountains into the valley and basin. You got tired but wanted to see L. A.; at night in all her lights.

It was flat for so long after we got to the San Joaquin valley. Then we finally hit those long, big hills just north of town. Eight lanes of traffic both ways. It's three or four in the morning and there's as much traffic as we're used to seeing in the middle of the day.

You were asleep when L. A. finally came into view. It was there on the right. I tried to wake you up. I yelled at you but you were so tired you never got to see it.

I looked for both of us. It was a long way from where you and I came from.

Sorry you missed it. You still might see it sometime. But it won't be the same.