I Was Not at My Best

For starters, I only have 1 pictures of tornado/storm damage, because someone took my camera :(  We were in the play place at Walmart, I set my camera down, and forgot to bring it with me.  Aaron went back to check and asked at customer service, but it was nowhere to be found.  Sad day.

Anyway, this is our neighbor's tree that got blown down.  We didn't have much damage in our area as the 2 tornadoes were in other areas of town.  

From what I read, only 1 person was seriously injured (and she should recover well).  And while there was undoubtedly millions upon millions of dollars worth of damage done to the university, the most important thing is that no lives were lost.  

Through this, I've come to the conclusion that I do not do well in a moderate crisis.

A regular crisis?  I'm your girl.  There will be a plan of action.  There will be good questions asked.  I will be the queen comforter and helper.

But, I don't do the moderate crisis thing well at.all.

Of which crisis am I speaking, you may ask.

We didn't have power for like 36 hours.

That is certainly not a major crisis.  I mean, I have friends who work at the university who were handling major crises with grace and calm and strength.  My lack of electricity doesn't even come close in comparison to what they were dealing with.

I would even say that not having electricity for around 36 hours is on the low end of the moderate crisis.  

The storm that brought the tornado, came to town probably around 11:00ish pm last Monday night.  There was a lot of wind and rolling thunder and flashes of lightning.  The tornado siren didn't even go off...likely because elevation of the tornadoes was so low that the dopplar radar couldn't detect them.

We lost power around then.

Maggie woke up from the storm.  She was crying, because she didn't think she could fall asleep without the fan on.  To be fair, it got pretty stuffy pretty fast.  We didn't want her to wake up Gracie with her crying, so she and I took turns playing Dots, my favorite time wasting game on the tablet.  

After a while, we tried to get Maggie to go back to bed, but she was pretty worked up, so she and I camped out on the couches.  I was awake for longer than I slept, so needless to say, that's not the best way to start a day that contains a moderate-low crisis.  

Aaron very sweetly walked to the gas station to see if they had coffee.

While he was gone, I started getting frantic about not being able to take a shower.  I mean, technically I suppose I could have taken one in the dark, but at that moment, I wasn't sure what the water situation was. 

I'm not even one of those people who has to take a shower every day.  So, in an act of desperation, I grabbed some baby wipes and wiped out my armpits.

I apparently have no shame seeing as I shared that bit of information with the world wide web, but that gives you a glimpse as to how well I wasn't handling this!

Plus, I can't possibly be the only person who has ever done that...fess up :)

Anyway, Aaron came back without coffee, but he had run into some neighbors, so he returned with news of the tornadoes' damage.  

He also grabbed a travel mug so that our neighbor, Larry, could make me some instant coffee!  He must have lit their gas stove with a lighter or something.

Larry even told Aaron that he added an extra half scoop of coffee to make it stronger for me. 

So super nice!!!

Thankfully, my parents were already planning on visiting us for the day, and they were already on their way!

Aaron and I walked around our neighborhood, checking out the damage.  

It was getting hot.

I hate being hot.

I reeeeeeeally hate being hot.

I mean, let's just say that humidity and I don't really connect.

The girls were getting bored with walking around when a dog started trotting after Gracie.

She flipped out, so I carried her for the rest of the way home.  

My parents had gotten into town by the time we got home, so the girls and I met them in the Walmart parking lot, while Aaron went to work.  Between the road construction and storm damage, I wasn't sure they'd even be able to make it to our house.

We headed out of town to my favorite restaurant which lived up to the hype :)

We walked around the river and had such a fun time!  We got cupcakes and explored the fun downtown mill district.

I called Aaron and found that there was still no power, but we headed back home anyway.  

After enjoying a supper of sandwiches, my parents headed for home, and we headed to our friends' house.

The girls happily played outside with Jaime and Amy's kids, climbing up and sliding down the awesome inflatable water slide.  I took an actual shower...ahhhhhhhhhh!

As we started to pack the girls up to go home, I got a text from a friend saying that it was possible that we weren't going to have power for another day or 2.

At that moment, I was done.

As in:  drop the mic...Becky OUT!

I called the power company to see if there was a timeline for when our power was going to be back on.  I was nice, because, you know, it's not their fault there was a tornado.  He said, basically, in 12-24 hours.

There was no way we were going to be able to sleep, so we decided that the girls and I would head to my parents' house.  Aaron wanted to be home to make sure our basement didn't get water in it due to another storm that was on its way.  

I turned into the focused, intense mom.

I tried to give the girls a pep talk along the lines of, "We're each going to pack 3 outfits and work together to get going as soon as possible!"

I failed to mention that the reason we were hurrying was because the sooner we got going, the sooner we would get to Nana and Papa's house and the sooner they would be sleeping.

Let's just say that they perceived the Mommy-in-go-time-mode as MOMMY IS FREAKING OUT AND I SHOULD PANIC!

Did I mention that I was wearing a headlamp?  Because I was wearing a headlamp.

this is an old picture

Soooooooooo, they also probably felt like they were being interrogated every time I looked at them.  

I wouldn't say that this was a recipe for success and harmony and happiness.

It was more of a recipe for crying and panic and dismay and crying.  

Oh, and crying.  

Did I mention there was crying?

I can't say I blame them, because I wanted to cry, too, but I was too busy wearing a headlamp and shoving random clothes in a bag.

Aaron talked and prayed the girls off of the emotional edge, as I teetered dangerously close to the aforementioned edge.

But, we made it!  We left our house at 8:45 and got to my parents' house at a little after 11:00...the last 15 minutes were through pouring rain.

But, hey, at least it wasn't a tornado.

And at least I wasn't wearing a headlamp :)

Linking up with And Babies Don't Keep!