The Day After

The craziest thing happened yesterday...

Mom and Dad were very disappointed when their power did not come on Monday, as promised. Surprise, right? I agreed to take Mom in yesterday to wipe out the fridge, throw away the little things that were left, etc.--basically, just prepare for when they COULD go home. On our way there, we had to go over to the oncologist's office to pick up some prescriptions for Dad and then to Walgreens to get the medicine (some of his meds you can ONLY get with a written prescription, on special paper, from certain pharmacies...probably why they don't recommend traveling for cancer patients, right?). Anyway, this put us about an hour and a half behind schedule, not that it was a problem. The point is, we had the day planned a certain way--we'd go in, work a little on the house, pick up a couple of things, come back here to wait for power or a hotel room near the hospital, whichever came first.

It was very surreal driving in to Houston; billboards were just shredded, and some of the debris hanging in the electric lines was pretty unbelievable. Once we got into Pasadena, many of the traffic lights were out and the streets seemed to be patchworked...power on, power off, power on...you get it. We drove over the bridge--still not tolls, bonus--and once we got to NorthShore, it was pretty bad. Lots of trees down and way too many trees in houses. Driving down Freeport, things were just OFF...broken signs, closed businesses, buildings damaged...just weird. And then we got to the Woodforest end of Freeport, which just looked like Abiyoyo or one of his friends walked through, smashing trees and houses. It's pretty bad, if you haven't been over there. As we came around the curve on Uvalde, we were very disappointed to see that there was no power at Mr. Gatti's, which meant no power at Mom & Dad's. Not that we were expecting power, mind you, but it was still disheartening to see all of the damage and that things were still so off almost 2 weeks later. We drove into the townhome complex, and sure enough, no power. We parked, and I was looking down taking the key out of the ignition when Mom said, "the light!" And sure enough, their outside light came on...then I noticed that the neighbor's safety lights were on, as well. They were NOT when we drove in. Call it our hurricane miracle--the power came on, literally, as we drove in. If we had not gone to get Dad's medicine, we would have been in and out before the power came on and Dad would have missed more treatment, Mom would have missed more work. We were already feeling very grateful--and blessed--and this was the icing on the cake after a very long two weeks.

The thing is, we had a great time--but it's just like vacation, you can only enjoy an alternate reality for so long before you begin to miss your routine, your space, your life. Would I trade this two weeks? Not for the world--we had a great visit with my parents, and Lynn and Hannah. We spent a lot of time doing plain old family things, and just watching the kids play and grow. Surprisingly, we didn't watch much TV, other than storm coverage. We ate a lot, no surprise there, and we spent a lot of time in the kitchen and at the table. We talked to aunts and uncles and cousins daily, which isn't that unusual but it was nice to feel so connected to the rest of the world. We spent a lot of time thinking about and talking to Ronny's family in Taipei, which again, isn't unusual but we felt really close to them because we had such similar experiences this past 2 weeks. It made the world seem just that much smaller, which is exactly what we all needed. I'm grateful for this time with my parents, and the opportunity they had to be a part of our daily lives--and the kids' lives--for 2 weeks. They saw Kayci's daily routine, Grandpa went to her first soccer practice, they got to hear her read each night. They watched Noble learn to get up on all four and rock...and rock and rock. They saw Noble go from playing on his carpet to scooting over to the bins to select toys...then fuss when the toys didn't do what he wanted them to do. We got to spend time with James' family, too, which was nice...and then there was our week with Lynn and Hannah, which we all enjoyed. So, all in all for us, a great two weeks. Yes, I'm not heartless--so many of our friends are still without power and internet and other basics, and we've been in contact with them almost daily. But I'm not blogging about how horrible Ike was, but instead, the unexpected blessings.

So, it's the day after. We took Grandma and Grandpa home last night, James fixed their satellite and we got them settled. Of course, once we got there we realized we left a big pile of their stuff in the office...oops. We'll be back in this weekend for Gracie's party, so not a total tragedy, but still funny. Luckily, their medicine made it to Houston.

James isn't feeling well (weather change?), so he's home sick from work today. He was miserable yesterday, between the drainage and the headache and the coughing, so I'm glad he's home to rest. And yes, I'm a bad parent because I kept Kayci home from school--I figure a day in bed will be good for all of us. Our day so far? Breakfast in bed, a movie ("Princess Diaries") in bed, then a nap for Noble and Daddy and some board games for Mommy & Kayci. Now she's in the office painting and I'm supposed to be working, but I figured I'd better post an update. :) My personal goal is to stay in PJs until it's time to take Kayci to gymnastics (she's not in gymnastics, but her friend Emily invited her for bring a friend day) and then to soccer practice. By the way, the schedule should be posted ASAP...I'll put that up when I get it. Kayci's team is the Red Hots, if you go to the website on your own.

Alrighty...back to work. And then tomorrow, back to school and work for Kayci and Daddy, back to regularly scheduled programming for Noble and Mommy. Grading for me, growing for him. And yes, because I'm me, cleaning and laundry in between. I may be mellowing in my old age, but I'm still Kristi, after all. :) Hey, I get cool points for having dirty floors for a whole week, man!