As you saw through my Facebook posts, I am sincerely thankful to the Weldon Fire Department for letting me work out of Fire Station 2 during the fury of the long, strange storm.

I was about ready to post my second story of the day when the power went out. Instead of twiddling my thumbs, I would say around 3 p.m. or so I decided to go back out after I heard the roof of the church had been blown away.

I would later learn Fire Station 2 had a generator and working Internet although Hurricane Irene was shrieking and causing havoc across the area.

The Weldon Fire Department would be my base through Monday and I can't thank Chief Rusty Bolt enough for his kindness and even letting me ride with them in the fire engine on a few calls.

It was the ultimate self sacrifice because the fire department's world went in a tailspin when the church roof landed on the Fire Station 1 roof causing serious damage. I will be forever grateful to the chief for his sacrifice.

As the reality hit that I would not see power or Internet until now what is Wednesday, Bob Agoglia of the Computer Guy and Company extended an invitation to work there which I did on Tuesday and part of Wednesday before learning power in my section of Weldon was finally back on. Again, the kindness of friends and business associates was welcome and here I type back in a comfortable place.

As things slowly come back to normal, back in a familiar place, the next thing that comes to mind is peace of mind. Saturday night was a hellacious night for me because I did not sleep at all, scared to even dare try because I use a CPAP. By 5:30 or 6:30 Sunday evening I was a zombie, having worked steady since 7 a.m. Saturday and back at it early Sunday morning. Thankfully, a friend messaged me a lodge on Lake Gaston was opened and had vacancies. Upon checking in, my head hit the pillow and I woke up once at 11 p.m. and immediately went back to sleep.

Monday was another motel trip, this time in Roanoke Rapids. For the first time in many months I overslept, waking up at 5:30 only to wonder why. I didn't get up until eight minutes after 9 but managed to salvage the day.

My last nomadic voyage was a stay Tuesday night at my friend Randy Wrenn's house. He and Marcia Hudson had no problems with me staying the night and I again slept well and awoke refreshed.

Coming back to Weldon briefly to get some things, I saw Duke Energy crews on the street and knew I would soon be home.

As things slowly come back to normal, back to where I lay my head, I think about those still without power, knowing what they have been through. I have two pairs of jeans that are still soggy from Saturday and am anxious to do a wash, a small problem now compared to the many this area has faced.

That's why through this all I never played the conspiracy theory game and nor should I. We live in an area prone to damages from hurricanes and we know the power is going to go out and later be restored. I knew my time would come, I actually knew it around 12:30 Sunday morning when I stood on the porch scared to go to sleep without my machine and Dominion crews came by to survey the damage, the fallen tree, the twisted and mangled wires and pole as a steady rain left behind by Irene fell. They even sent a worker up in a bucket as I watched. I knew there would be power and I saw the crews at work, knew they were working when others may have doubted their existence. Instead of cursing them because you think you are an expert at power restoration, thank them for risking their lives to make yours comfortable. That's what I did Wednesday morning when I saw the Duke Energy crews.

As things slowly come back to normal, back to the job at hand and the many follow-ups to do, I am reminded of why I started this website to begin with, not always to be first, but to give readers an option. I think that showed in coverage Saturday and those soggy jeans are a reminder of why I do this, to bring you the news. No, I never promised to be first and I would never make such a brazen statement that rrspin.com is the number one website in this area. I think it has its place and does what it does well, sometimes better than it should, sometimes less than it should, but always trying to give you the information you need. So, as things slowly come back to normal, and many of us are in our comfortable places, I just wanted to say thank you, readers, and when you see some of the people I've mentioned, thank them, too — Lance Martin