The fabric of small towns is tight-knit community. Oso and Darrington, WA, are communities with tightly-woven relationships connecting people in integrated lives that make everyone “family” in one way or another. The implication of this symbiosis is that when one thread of these communities’ fabric is pulled the whole cloth is affected. That is the nature of these two towns that are digging out of the mudslide that ripped through the landscape and hearts along the north fork of the Stillaguamish River in Snohomish County.
[AP Photo/The Herald – Genna Martin]
There are no strangers in these communities. For instance, take the life of a young mother in Oso or Darrington. It is likely her date to her senior prom in high school a few years ago is the postman who delivers her mail. Her best friend since second grade is the community librarian. The head cheerleader from her junior year is married to her son’s Little League baseball coach. The local dentist is the father of her daughter’s preschool teacher. Her husband’s brother is their mechanic, married to their son’s second grade teacher.
These are just a few of the threads of lives interwoven within these communities. These are the threads that were yanked when the hillside gave way blanketing Oso and State Route 530. And these are the threads that are connected to those still buried in the mire. These are the threads searching through the muck to rescue their loved ones and restore the tapestry of these communities. Here, everyone is a “loved one.”
For the people in Oso and Darrington, the loom of their lives stretches across generations and has been strengthened by the wash and wear of time and experience. Though the warp has never stressed the weave this intensely in the past, their time-tested resolve and relationships will prevail through the permanence of their mud-stained memory. Our work is to support them in every way as they re-weave their communities. In the future, there will be rebuilding and restoration work to be done, and they will need us beside them. But for now, our work is to pray and give financial donations to support their efforts. After all, we are all cut from the same cloth.
A prayer for Oso and Darrington
O merciful Father, comfort all who are in distress in the wake of the mudslides affecting those along the north fork of the Stillaguamish River. Give courage to those who search for family, friends and neighbors, so they will not be lost in danger or despair. Show your compassion to those who have lost loved ones, that they may feel your presence and live in hope of the resurrection. Strengthen those who have lost homes and possessions but have their lives, that they may embrace the precious gift of one another. Receive into your arms your children whose lives have been swept away, that they rest in your everlasting peace through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
