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OZARKS COMMONS: In the bleak midwinter, a moment of appreciation

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I sat in my warm and cozy house situated on a hill not too far from Court Square in West Plains on Wednesday morning, curled up under a blanket with my dogs as I worked from home, all but oblivious to the effects of the 10 or so inches of heavy snow that had fallen overnight.

I wasn’t under a blanket for lack of warmth — I am always under a blanket. I can be sitting next to a bonfire on an 85 degree night and I will still have a blanket. Don’t ask why, I don’t understand it, either.

In fact, I was apparently one of the lucky few not to lose power Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. Hence my near-oblivion.

I had done a cursory walk around my expansive yard, shocked at how little snow there was in the front yard compared to the backyard, which seemed to be covered in snow at least twice as deep. I grumbled at the ancient redbud tree that had snapped in half, forming a perfect frame for a wide tent. My property, full of maples and walnuts and redbuds, never runs short on the chore of cutting and stacking wood.

I did whistle a deep song of gratitude that the branches that had dropped had not fallen on my car, my roof nor, thankfully, any power lines.

But it didn’t occur to me until about 2 p.m., despite seeing several reports of outages on social media, just how lucky my household was.

Even as I write this a day after the storm’s effects became known, thousands of homes, mostly rural, are still without power. Cooperative crews from across the state have come to our community to lend a hand in aid to Howell-Electric Cooperative linemen as they work to restore power — not just a matter of replacing and repairing lines and poles in this situation. No, they have to cope with thawing snow and deepening mud, fallen trees and branches obscuring their routes, wind and chill.

Meanwhile, in West Plains, 12 Electric Department workers rolled out at 2 a.m. to deal with the first of five power outages, and worked nonstop for 14 and a half hours until power was restored to every customer within the city.

It occurs to me these workers ought to be appreciated far more than they seem to be. They all deserve a nice hot cup of coffee in thanks, I’d say, at the very least.

But wait, that’s not all! As I dug around on social media for updates, I noticed more than a handful of members of this dear community I call home posting their phone numbers, offering to help shovel driveways and cut fallen trees and limbs for neighbors and perfect strangers.

Dora and Bakersfield schools opened up their FEMA shelter buildings to offer a warm place for folks without power, as did Rescue Church on Sixth Street in West Plains.

Countless people texted and messaged to make sure we were OK, and while I didn’t fully appreciate why until so late in the day, it kept my heart just as warm as my dogs and blanket kept the rest of me.

Forgive me a moment of sentimental wordplay: West Plains begins with the word “We.” As so many businesses declared during the pandemic lockdown of April 2020, “There is no Us without U,” and as the citywide rallying cry proclaimed after the Great Flood of 2017, we are #WestPlainsStrong.”

And all of these things come to my mind as I think back over these past few days.

When the cold feels heavy and darkness feels strong, just remember, for all of our faults — which we do have, because we are human — we make up a beautiful, caring community worth celebrating. Take heart, Greater West Plains, and keep looking out for each other. It’s what we’re known for.

As always, I love to hear from you. Please share your thoughts, reactions and topic ideas with me by email at abbyh@wpdailyquill.net or by phone, 417-256-9191.


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