We have had an adventurous week, my friends. Tucked into bed on Friday night, a quiet night turned ominous. Suddenly, it sounded like we were trapped inside a dryer machine. We looked outside to see the trees bowing and bending, gathered sleepy children into our arms and hunkered down in the basement. We're not usually nervous during storms, but this one felt different. It was forceful, and we knew a single fallen tree could be deadly. The storm passed in less than an hour, but it was strong and scary. When we surveyed the damage on Saturday morning, we gave a prayer of thanks that our own home was spared: many homes and cars in our neighborhood were not so lucky.
We left Sunday morning for a trip to North Carolina that we had long ago planned. We spent the better part of the week in the company of family and friends. The kids played to the point of blissful exhaustion with cousins, we got to attend a fancy schmancy "Change of Command" ceremony for my brother-in-law (who is now a commander!), and we ate some deLIcious barbecue.
As the days passed and as we continued checking in our our neighbors we realized that the power was not coming back on. One day, two, three. The water was no longer safe to drink, and one friend's home had an interior temperature of 104. Yikes.
We drove home today knowing our own home was without power, not entirely sure where we would spend the rest of the week (at home? at a family member's house?). The kids were exhausted, the baby was cranky (to put it generously) and I may or may not have been teary. My mom offered to drive over and clean out our fridge and we humbly accepted the offer. It was not a job we imagined would be pleasant with three kids underfoot. We settled on spending the night at my in-law's house (who had power) and as we sat down around the table for a family dinner, we started receiving the phone calls: our power was back. I think I squealed in delight, so happy to be able to go back home.
I don't know the last time I was so thankful! Thankful we stayed safe in that storm. Thankful to be home. Thankful for the hospitality of our family in North Carolina, who kept us happy, housed, and distracted during the outage. Thankful for the help of friends who checked in on the house and my mom who deserves a medal of honor for reckoning with that refrigerator!
Ben let the girls stay up a little late to do some fireworks. The fourth of July only comes once a year, after all, and travel weary or not, power outages or not, it deserves a bit of celebration. This is a good country we live in.
2 comments:
Glad you all were safe and your home was spared. It was not so for a lot of people. My dad and stepmom live in VA and were without power for sometime.
Yes, thank you. We are feeling very lucky. I hope your dad and stepmom have had their power restored!
Post a Comment