Today was crazy. I don't know how else to explain it. After I write this, I will go to bed and pass out. But unless I process some of it, I will not pass out.
We started with a series of thunderstorms last night, sometime right after midnight. These were not small thunderstorms, but wicked strong ones, ones that I would expect in the middle of the summer on a hot day. Three nights earlier we had a snowstorm, it dumped 12" on us, and drifted above my waist in parts of my yard. It was a blast to dig out from. Obsidian had been waking up on and off since 10:30 pm. And at least for the beginning of each round of thunderstorms. We lost power for a couple hours in there. At 4 am, Obsidian decided to talk. And talk. And talk. Jet and I 1/2 listened in our sleep to his views on everything from the classic cars Jet owns, to his tricycle, to "Grandpa's train", to "Uncle M diesel train", to Toy Story, to favorite foods. And he kept talking. All day. Our city's public schools were closed due to flooding and no phones. Pyrope goes to a private preschool, but often they follow the city's schools. After several calls, I found out Pyrope does have school. We decided to have a playdate, we debated which of our house's, and eventually decided here. By 9:30, they were here. As the kids were playing, they kept coming up from our basement with wet socks. We yell at them for spilling things. I go down stairs a couple of times and throw a towel or 2 (which really in the end totaled 8 towels during the playdate, and another 4 before I figured out what was happening; but I wasn't paying that much attention and didn't realize the number until I looked in my washing machine). I get a phone call from a co-worker. Another co-worker of ours had called off the day before (Sunday) because her in-laws were in a serious car accident and life flighted to a trauma center. We knew that the driver (who had lost control of the car because of the previously mentioned snowstorm had not fully been cleaned up) had passed away. We knew the passenger in that car had been life flighted as well and was in critical condition (co-worker's in-laws were in stable condition by Sunday). So today (Monday), co-worker who was calling me husband goes into work. He is a school teacher. His favorite student had passed away on Sunday after being in a car accident that also killed his mother. Yes, it was the same accident. He was 15. So I listen to my co-worker talk. I offered a few words, but she wanted to talk. A boy she had heard so much about, was gone. And she indirectly knows the other vehicle involved. What a small world. And how much our world can change in the blink of an eye. After her kids needed her, I hung up and told my friend but in general went back to my crazy day. The "spills" in my basement continued. As she was leaving with her kids around noon, she tells me to call her if I figure out what the kids have spilled, its odd. So I am soaking up the spots with towels and decide to look on Facebook. One of the first posts I read is from another friend that lives a 1/2 mile away. Her basement flooded early this morning. Her furnace, hot water tank, a refrigerator, washer, drier, computer, and most of her kids toys were destroyed. They started smelling something funny, call the fire department, the fire department tells them to turn off the power to the house... yes electrical fires were starting because the flooding was so bad in some basement yet the power lines were not down, so fires were starting. I feel terrible for her. Then as I'm picking up yet another towel, I realize "My kids aren't spilling things, my basement is flooding!!!" I call my friend, who turns around and takes my kids to her house (although it takes a while because a good number of roads are closed due to flooding). I call my husband, who doesn't pick up his cell phone. I call his boss and tell her that I can't get a hold of Jet, and our basement is flooding, can she please find him and tell him. The basements that got flooded really bad were sump pump failures. Ours on the other hand, the ground was so saturated, it was literally coming up from the concrete floors (then through the padding and carpet). It was only one section (that is finished, part of our basement is not, but this was in the finished part). So I was shop vac the areas, picking up the electrical stuff and more valuable stuff. Cranking up the dehumidifier. Turning up the heat in the house. Setting up fans to blow the moisture upstairs out of the basement. Shop vacuum some more. Repeat. Jet was shoveling and snow blowing all the snow he could from around the house, then was checking the down spouts and gutters. The one down spout was washing away dirt from under our deck and effecting a couple of the deck's supports. A trip to Home Depot and shoveling of dirt later, it is much better. Our basement is in okay shape. The water isn't coming in nearly as quickly (for a while I was clearing out a gallon or so an hour). Our carpet at a minimum will need to be professionally cleaned. It might need to be removed. But that is it. Our house is fine. Our stuff is fine. More importantly, we are fine.
And as I'm doing all of this, I keep thinking. "This isn't bad. This is all stuff. What is important, my husband, my kids, and my friends, are not in serious harm's way. Even if this is destroyed, it is stuff. And it is stuff we don't need. We like it, but we don't need it. We need a safe house to live in, but if it was gone we would have my mom's, my friend's house that my kids are at, several co-workers house's, exc."
And that is what I have at the end of the day. My family. My friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment