The worst storm I've ever experienced just happened to come when my husband was away at the deer lease and the day before my son's 4th birthday party. Timing is, after all, everything.
The weekend actually started off well. Jackson, Sadie and I settled into my bed for movie night. This was extra special for Sadie, because she almost always misses out on such events. But she's growing up and the mere idea of getting to put on her "jamas" and eat "chawkwet" in bed were just this side of heaven in her book. We watched The Princess and the Frog on pay-per-view, then settled in for a good night's rest. Sadie went to her bed, Jackson stayed in mine (For protection. Because four year olds are very intimidating to burglars.)
In all the movie night festivities, I neglected to watch the news. Or the weather.
Around 1:30, something jolted me out of my sleep. I'm not sure what it was that woke me. Maybe thunder. Or wind. Or the pomegranate tree knocking on our window. Whatever it was, it wasn't terribly out of the ordinary. We get wind quite a bit, and it always sounds worse than it really is. But because I was alone with the kids, I didn't want to take any unnecessary chances. I went to our closet and got out the weather radio at about the same moment that the lights went out. Of course, being the prepared ones that we are, the batteries in the radio were dead. I grabbed a flashlight and headed toward the battery drawer in the kitchen. I think at this point I realized that the wind was much louder than normal--this wasn't the typical east Texas thunderstorm. As I crossed through the living room, I began to hear what I knew was hail hitting the windows. I looked out to see what I could see in the darkness. That's when I noticed the absence of our trampoline.
I quickened my pace.
The playhouse in our back yard was also not as it should be.
Panic set in.
I took the batteries (that of course weren't fitting as they should) and the radio back to my room and tried to fix it in there. Near my son, who was still sound asleep. I touched his leg at one point, considering the idea of waking him and Sadie and moving into a closet. I stopped before he woke up, because in my mind waking him--my boy who already seems to have enough nightmares--might do more harm than good. When the radio finally came on, I could find nothing that would tell me what was going on outside my four walls. The wind seemed to be dying down, but how could I be sure? I decided at that point to get Sadie. I had to laugh a little when I walked into her room. There she sat, in the dark, wide-eyed and relieved to see me. But she wasn't scared. She would ask me periodically, "What's that sound?" But otherwise she was fine.
By the time we got back to the weather radio, it was clear that the worst was over. When I finally found Mark Scirto on the radio, I knew we'd been through something significant, but we were safe. There was talk of straight-line winds, possible tornadoes, and hail. My sister and my mother-in-law had been texting me, checking on us and any damage. My parents were away on a cruise, so there was no way to know what damage had been done at their house, although it appeared everything was in one piece.
Around 5:00, Kim and Jed came with a spotlight to survey the damage. Sadie enjoyed telling them about the wind. It was all very exciting to her. Jed drove around to see where the trampoline might've landed. Judging by the state of the playhouse, I figured the trampoline must have used it as a ramp. But it was no where in sight.
Did I mention that Jackson never once woke up?
Sadie and I finally settled down to try and go back to sleep. It was a new experience for her. She's never slept in our bed before. She would lay there, perfectly still, and pat my face. Occasionally, she would say, "Momma? You sleep?" Then she would laugh when I would open my eyes. We finally managed to find sleep around 5:45. With the windows up, it was cool in the room. With no electricity, it was more than quiet. Considering the night we'd had, it was good sleeping weather.
When we all got up the next morning, we realized that Jackson's birthday party would not be happening. All our entertainment had blown away! Not only was the trampoline still MIA, but the play house was in a few pieces and laying all over the "rock sandbox." To me, it looked beyond repair.
Kevin called to check on us as soon as he saw a text I sent him during the night. He offered to come home and fix the playhouse in time for the party. I just didn't want that stress for him or myself. He just didn't know what he was coming home to. The party would wait. It turned out to be a good decision, because the woman making the cake was without electricity as well.
And we didn't get electricity until Tuesday. Let me just say a huge "THANK YOU" to whomever invented the generator.
While there were large trees down in several spots, we had no severe property damage. My parents' ranch hand, Drew, spent the better part of a day cleaning up the hundreds of sticks that blew down in their yard, but considering the huge pecan trees that surround their house, it could have been so much worse. People in Van had quite a bit more damage than we did, but again, it could have been so much worse.
But we learned a few things along the way. First, the only thing my kids missed was being able to watch TV whenever they wanted. Second, once I explained (a few hundred times) that the electricity was off, they usually found other ways to amuse themselves. Third, sleeping with the window open is pretty great. And last, but most certainly not least, we were blessed. When I think about the fact that a wind strong enough to blow our trampoline 200 yards away swept through our back yard not 20 feet away from where we slept...I know God's hand protected us. We are blessed.
