When Hurricane Irene first came up the coast toward my hometown by the sea, I grew worried for my mother.

She’s been dead for 11 years.

On the evening my family hiked our way back to our home in the Green Mountains, abandoning our car near the cemetery on Fox Road, I worried about Jesse.

The night was dark, the wind howling, and the roads precariously eaten away by the engorged streams, and still my thoughts turned to the young man whose life was stolen, over two years ago, at the heartbreaking age of 20.

Why would I worry about the dead at a time like this, I wondered; and then it occurred to me; that perhaps it was they who were worrying about us.

Caring for us, really.

Watching over us.

Thanks Mom.

Thanks Jesse.

Keep up the good work.

Kelly Salasin, Marlboro, Vermont

To read more about the flooding in VT, click here.

Note: Cemeteries in Vermont have been affected by the floods; click here to read more.