Just a couple of stories about the time after the hurricane

Mom is lying down on the mattress in #1 Son’s room. Yep, we put down mattresses to have all of us sleep in there the day after the hurricane. His was the coolest room, so in went the twin mattresses off the daybed and trundle. It makes a king size bed, and lots of fun for kids. Mom laid down and was playing with #2 Son. He came crawling / walking over to me, put his head over my face and I thought he was going to kiss me. What I received was a face full of barf. No electricity, no running water. UGH. I got up and wiped it up with napkins. Got a small bowl of water from our washing machine and try to clean up the best I could. And all I can think of is how nice it would be to have a HOT shower.

Next one comes from the Family hit by Ivan. We got to talk while I was out of power. I had phone off and on, but no power. From a previous post, I was breaking things left and right. Later on, when talking on the phone, I had a tendency to tell my family about the stupid things I have been doing because of sleep deprivation. Here comes the kicker – they started telling one another when ever someone broke something or did something stupid – You did a Bug. Yep! For example: My sister in P’cola was going through the list of Hurricanes that have hit Florida, starting with the letter A (Andrew), and continuing through the alphabet while talking to Mom. She stopped at the letter I, looked my Mom in the face and said she couldn’t remember the Hurricane that started with I. She was serious. Mom laughed and told her she pulled a Bug. Another example: My Bro-in-law cleaned out my parents freezer for them, giving most of the good food to the people cooking for the National Guard, but taking some home and left the milk containers full of water in the freezer. Those milk containers contained milk, not water. Yep, they told him he pulled a Bug. Oh, there are a lot more of these stories… but I got a kick out of those two. And NO I am not going to post about all the stupid stuff I do when I have had no sleep. Though the one that most people can relate to is when I went to the cabinet and couldn’t find the milk. I stood there for a long time looking in that cabinet for milk… it just wasn’t there. Then it clicked… I have to look in the fridge.

Finally, the kids had a blast with their Dad. Every time he got down on the floor, all 3 of them would congregate over to him. He got jumped on, pawed, hugged, climbed and more. Those kids love playing with Dad. It was so much fun to watch. #1 Son trying to get on his shoulders, while #2 Son tried to climb in his lap, while #1DogSon tried to lick his face. Or watching him help #1 Son play with #1DogSon while keeping #2 Son safe.

This post is getting long, so I’ll stop here. It certainly was difficult with 2 sick kids, the heat, the humidity, the lack of sleep, and no electricity for running water. I still wouldn’t trade it for the world. The kids had fun with their dad, it was not the end of the world, and we have so much more to look forward to in the days coming up.