I’m convinced adversity is where we learn our most valuable lessons in life.
This storm sucked (or should I say it blew…har, har.)
We are 5 days “without” power. I say “without” because we have had a generator since Saturday. My grandparents bought us a generator after one of the snow storms knocked our power out several years ago, so we have been extremely blessed to have it. We had two fridges and freezers full of food and that would’ve been horrible to lose all of that food (I know many of you all did and I am SO very sorry for that.)
Let’s see…I guess I should give the short version of how things went down in our world Friday night. Kevin’s mom came in to visit (she couldn’t have picked a more rotten time, huh?) and we went down to the Cork & Pork Festival in Covington. Around 8:30, people started racing around to pack up. I thought they had lost it and thought they were acting irrational and prematurely since there was not a cloud in the sky at the time. A vendor with his phone in hand said a storm had passed through Lewisburg and was coming our way and was U-shaped, producing dangerous wind, yadda, yadda. I just shook my head because we have had these silly warnings so many times…snow, storms, etc. We went ahead and left and as we got to the end of Monroe Street, the lights were flickering at the Kangaroo station…then Hardees. As we came through Parrish Court, the lights we’re flickering on the church sign outside Grace Brethern Church. As we approached Edgemont/JWIS, Kevin looked in the sky and said, “Oh crap.” In the sky was...we don’t really know. It was a vertical cloud and it was moving faster than anything we’ve ever seen before. Kevin slammed the brakes on and turned around right in the middle of the road and went back the other way. We pulled over and he watched it in an effort to avoid its path, then it turned and went over Pitzer’s Ridge. He whipped the van around and hit the gas and I’m pretty sure we pulled into the front yard on two wheels. The kids were bawling. We ran to the basement. Not two minutes later, something was on fire across the street from the school and a tree had fallen across the bridge (that we had just crossed), destroying part of the side of the bridge and blocking traffic until it could be cut. We ran downstairs in the dark, scrambling for flashlights and candles, the kids still crying and worried about everything, with the dogs at the top of the list. The next door neighbors joined us in the basement as we sat in the dark. It was a scary hour or so and in that time in the dark, what’s most important in life became extremely visible.
So here I sit at the church, 5 days later. We still don’t have power at our house.
The kids went home with the grandparents where they didn’t have to “rough it.” I regret not making the first-born stay and de-tox from electronics, but time with family is good too. Maybe I'll throw the breakers in a few weeks and make him endure it for a little while :)
Sunday morning we had church at the picnic shelter. Amazing Grace sounds beautiful under there. It was humbling.
We have cooked every meal on the grill and I can’t remember when I have cooked so much. I forgot how much I loved to cook.
I am certain I could go for the rest of my life without the tv. I haven't missed it for a second.
We had our "elderly" (I use the term loosely because at 93. she gets around better than we do most of the time!) neighbor over for dinner and swimming and we talked to some other neighbors down the street whom we haven’t talked with in ages…well because we’re all just too busy, of course.
Kevin’s mom taught me how to heat water on the grill and pour it through the coffeemaker for coffee on Saturday morning. I could've kissed the woman's feet.
We went to our neighbors’ house and sat on the back deck and talked each night.
I washed clothes in the bathtub and hung on the neighbor’s clothesline. We’re installing a clothesline and I will be making the kids participate in hanging them out.
I’ve loved the sense of community. I’ve loved how the days seem to last so much longer.
I know everybody wants the conveniences of power back…a dishwasher and a washing machine and a light in the bathroom. Me too. As much as I look forward to returning to the 21st century way of life, I will grieve this simplicity when it’s gone. I’m going to make an attempt to try to make simplicity a priority in the Griffith Family Way of Life.
