An Adventurous Drive in the Storm

I stayed late chatting after prayer meeting last night and we didn't leave until around 9:45ish. As we walked out the door, it was very windy and there was lightning. Once I got all the kids in the van, it started to sprinkle. It was full raining before we left the parking lot.

I live all the way across town and before I even drove a mile, the wind was so strong, I could barely see the road. Due to some construction, I had to drive 3 miles to get to the freeway that would take me to the other side of town. Seth wasn't with me. It was just me and the 3 kiddos.

Walls of water crashed into the van. I was traveling about 10 mph and still could barely see the road. I couldn't even see intersections, or the curb. I didn't know where to pull over to wait out the storm because I couldn't see! I knew there was a QT just before I would turn onto the freeway.

Street lights went out right beside me. I finally saw the QT sign just ahead. I couldn't exactly see where I should turn left to cross oncoming traffic to pull into QT. I knew there was a small median there, but I couldn't see it. I lined myself up with the QT entrance, and turned in.

The wind shook the van. The rain pounded so hard that I had to yell to the kids to be heard at all. I called Seth. I yelled into the phone and he yelled back that he couldn't hear me. So I texted him. He called me back. We yelled into the phone, this time getting our messages across.

I turned up the radio reporting on the weather as we sat and waited in the storm. Several other cars were waiting in the QT parking lot. The storm had come in so quickly that cars on the freeway that I would be taking home had stopped in the middle of the road. I don't blame them. With zero visibility, no one could see where it would be safe to pull over, so they just stopped.

Finally, the rocking seemed to stop, the rain let up a tad. Cars were starting to leave QT, I followed. Still traveling slowly on the freeway, I made it across town to my exit without a problem. Visibility was still low, but I could actually see the lines on the road.

As I made my way north on the street that leads to my street, I drove through several deep puddles. I knew that flooding was likely, but I had never driven through such large puddles before. One, I wish I had never started through. All power was out so no street lights were on. I couldn't even see when I was going to hit a puddle until I was already in it. One puddle was pretty high and lasted quite a while, I wasn't sure if I was gonna make it out.

Finally, I reached my street. Seth had to run outside and clear the driveway of our garbage bins that had blown into it as well as a large branch. I pulled into our driveway and let the kids out and then I carried little A. The rain was still coming down pretty hard. The lightning was bright and the thunder had an occasional boom. With no power, and it was nearly 10:30 by this time, we all just headed to bed.

A ended up joining Seth and me in bed. I just wasn't tired and my shoulder was in pain (I don't know why) so I got out of bed. I blindly walked upstairs, took a couple of snoozes on the couch, and then went back downstairs and climbed into A's bed. Normally, I would move her to her bed, but since I couldn't see anything, I was afraid I would trip while carrying her or run into something so I left her in my bed and I slept in hers.

I woke up at around 6:45. The power was still out, but I could see with the early morning sun lighting up the room. I switched with A, but her bed messed up my lower back, I could not get comfortable. Seth got up around 7:30 for physical therapy and then work. The power was still out. I couldn't go back to sleep. I sat up and twisted and stretched and tried all sorts of positions to relieve the pain in my back. Finally, something worked and I went back to sleep.

By the time I woke up, power was back. This was the 6th time this summer we've lost power but this was the longest the power stayed out. Branches are all over the yard and street. A large branch broke off one of our trees. Thankfully, that's all the damage we have.

Even with the adventurous drive home and the practically sleepless night, I praise God for the rain!!! After setting records for high temps in the last few weeks, and everything turning brown, it was much needed!!