Hello from Crazytown

It has been an eventful week or two for us. This past Friday (was that really only five days ago?!?) I picked Delaney up from school early so that we could drive to Asheville and meet my parents on Saturday. They gave us our long-awaited puppy, a girl Frenchton we named Willow, and Delaney's dearest wish from the time she was two, came true. We had in fact promised her a dog when she turned 10, and she never forgot that. The dream had to be deferred for a year while we moved to and from Japan in seven months, and at last my mom was able to get in contact with the breeder she'd gotten her own dog from (Georgie, the best dog ever!). A puppy, like a baby, is a fun thing to dream about and anticipate.

Then everyone went to work and school on Monday, and it was like puppy boot camp for me. I had scarcely begun to wrap my mind around the upheaval that this adorable bat-eared creature had brought into my life, when the hurricane I'd been refusing to take seriously the past couple days started to become real and it was time to start making plans.

Here we go again, I thought. Monday was spent trying to decide where to evacuate, and trying to find a decent hotel that accepted pets. Then once we chose Winston-Salem, we second-guessed the decision, wondering if it was far enough inland to improve our lives at all. Things were filling up quickly. I spent all day Tuesday running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I needed to get Joey to preschool. I could have skipped it, but he loves it and he only gets to go two mornings a week as it is. It was also our turn to bring snack. I had to get my tank topped off, but all the gas stations were out of gas, ratcheting up my anxiety. Fortunately Tim had filled it up right after I'd gotten back from Asheville, and I had a little over 3/4 of a tank. I had to find more water and more snacks in case we got stuck in traffic. Walmart was a madhouse, but I wanted to go there to get puppy pads for the hotel room. I needed to cook us one last dinner to eat, with chicken that would probably end up going to waste otherwise. I needed to organize and pack, make checklists, and do laundry. I sometimes found myself staring into space, or bursting into tears. I hadn't slept well since the days leading up to the trip to Asheville (things like that cause me to lose sleep for no other reason than that they are major changes in my routine). Then Willow was waking me up twice a night, and I was bringing her out to the backyard on a leash so she could poke around and chew on leaves. Then she'd bark and yap and whine at 3:30 when I'd put her back in her crate.

I'd only just gotten Joey to sleep consistently through the night, and now this.

The house was a wreck. I hadn't cleaned in days. I just followed Willow around, trying to get her outside in time to do her business. I felt guilty leaving her alone too long, and that Tuesday morning I was gone two-and-a-half continuous hours. I was not prepared for this. I texted my mom that if I survived this, I was never getting another puppy. Please grow up, puppy, and let me live again. I would forget to eat, I fretted over that dog so much. I kept her in a play yard with towels under her so that I could get things done, but I didn't get much done because I was overwhelmed and anxious about EVERYTHING.

I tried to find silver linings in this evacuation situation. Maybe being in a smaller space would help us all to keep a better eye on Willow, and help her potty train, albeit on the yucky pee pad and not outside. I figured we'd be gone at least a week, considering we were gone a solid week after we evacuated Parris Island for Hurricane Matthew, and that ended up not even being a big hurricane. I thought this could be an opportunity for Delaney to really bond with Willow and make her her dog, since they'd be together all this time. The way things were going, I was the one with her most of the time, and I was going to be the one Willow ended up following around (If I could ever take my eyes off her!).

The morning we left, we got up at 4, and I had Delaney feed her a half a Dramamine tablet to make sure she wouldn't get sick during the trip. That morning our county issued a mandatory evacuation order, and that affirmed for me that it really was the best idea for us to leave town. A lot of our neighbors stayed anyway. We were on the road by 5, and discovered when we made a pit stop near Raleigh, that one of our children who was old enough to know better, had managed to leave the house that morning without shoes on. Just how?

Our kids think that being in a hotel room is a lot of fun, and being the first one to the elevator to press the button is the best. They take off at a gallop down the long hall. Joey got scolded by a lady several doors down as he ran along behind, always last. She opened the door and said to him, "Can we not run in the hallway?" She glared at me and I just stared at her disbelievingly, saying slowly, "Yeah, can we not.." then a grimacing "sorry." We are 'those people.' My stampeding kids were only the beginning of her problems that night, I'm sure. As I lay in bed that night, I heard conversation and slamming doors up and down the corridor late into the night. Every time someone walked down the hallway, it sounded like they were trying to bounce a bowling ball. As Tim put it, "We ALL signed up for the same misery." So get used to it -- ha. Maybe the hotel should have a jar of earplugs at the front desk instead of dog biscuits.

Annie wanted to hold Willow's leash in the sporting goods store that allows pets. That was one of the places we tried to kill time before our rooms were ready. I saw Willow get into pooping position near the entrance, ran over and scooped her up, saying, "Nuh-uh, outside, outside, outside!" I ran out, dragging Annie along who was still holding the leash. Then when it was time to pick up the poop, Annie said, "I never wanted a dog."

I hate stressful times like this, but they give me something to blog about. It helps to remember there are people who have it worse, way worse. One of my Parris Island neighbors just had her third baby. She was discharged early from the hospital so she and her husband could take the baby home, throw their kids and everything they could think of into the car, and drive for 9 hours -- separate vehicles, both of them driving the whole way. I can not even imagine. Then there are many more people worse off than that. I hope and pray that everyone stays safe this weekend, and that the storm is not as destructive as it looks.🙏

Hurricane Irene

This post was started yesterday.

I sit here on my couch during nap time, more grateful than ever for the luxuries of electricity, air-conditioning, Internet, and COFFEE! after being without them for nearly 48 hours.  I was sound asleep last night at 11 when the whole house suddenly woke back up, with hums, beeps and glorious light.  I practically danced around the house closing windows so I could turn the air back on.  I remember a long time ago, when I was about 10, there was an ice storm that had us without power and without school for at least two or three days.  Mom remembers it as awful, and I remember it as awesome.  Now as a mom myself, a power outage of more than a day can bring me to my knees.  I rely more than ever on my many amenities, and I have been ever so thankful to have them back.  Tim and I are talking about investing in some real disaster supplies, like a generator and a camping stove.  We're going to be in North Carolina for two more years, and these things happen.  I was ready for a hurricane, but not adequately prepared for a power outage of more than a few hours.

Unlike most of my friends with deployed husbands, I opted to stay for Irene.  I couldn't imagine packing up three little kids and cramming us into a hotel room without an order to evacuate.  Our county wasn't even under a voluntary evacuation (what is the point of a voluntary evacuation anyway?  We all know we can leave any time we want to.).  I was also reassured to see that neither of my neighbors to the right or the left had run for the hills.  Just knowing they were there made me feel good about my decision.  There was a friend of mine down the street who was sticking around with her three little ones and deployed husband.  We had a drink together over the phone the night before, in anticipation of a long day inside with the little hurricanes we had spawned.  It was comforting to be in the exact same boat as someone else.  I of course talked to Tim, and as always he helped me as best he could from afar.

Still, at 4 in the morning when I woke up to pitch blackness and felt the house shudder under those powerful winds, I wondered if I was crazy for being here.  I'd never felt so alone in my life.  I started to pray.  I looked at the sleeping bundle of Timmy next to me, and thought about the girls all the way across the house in their room.  I took my flashlight and went to check on them.  They were sleeping soundly, oblivious in the way only little kids can be, even though it sounded like someone was trying to eat our house.  There is a huge window next to Delaney's bed.  I stood there, uncertain what to do next.  Finally I decided I couldn't rest until we were all in one room.  I picked them up and took them to my room, where we had a little "sleepover" until 7.  And they actually did go to sleep!

The hurricane lasted all day into the night.  For us, it only caused minimal damage -- a broken tree in the backyard and a screen door blown off the hinges.  A lot of people around here were not so lucky.  The hardest thing for me was how long we went without power.  I was such a grump in the morning when I couldn't brew my coffee.  As I watched the girls' play house blowing across the yard, I said, to them, "I bet if I went out there, I'd blow away.  Would you be scared watching me blow away?"  Delaney said, "Yeah, but then Daddy would come home and take care of us."  I said, "That's right, he would!"  Smart kid.

The day after the hurricane it was hot, and we just baked.  Timmy was a sweaty little ball, but bless his heart, all he did was sleep all day, waking only to eat.  He was like, 'Wake me up when this is over.'  I called around and couldn't find a single place to take the kids to eat dinner and just relax in some air conditioning.  I started to melt down.  I later found out that there were a couple places open, but by then it was time for bath and bed for the girls.  Watching the sun set on another day in a hot house with no electricity killed my morale.  But the girls were so good, entertaining each other for hours, very little fighting, not even aware of how miserable it was.  I was the only one with a problem.  Sometimes I think I could learn something from these kids.

Phew, glad that's over with.