Stormy Weather
August 26, 2007
Ok, so I know I’ve been delinquent about posting. Things have been a little crazy in Wheaton. We’ve been having lots of rain. Lots. My lawn is growing like crazy. So, when I heard thunderstorms predicted for Thursday, I wasn’t surprised. I walked out of my house at 2:55 to walk up to the school to pick up the girls. They get out at 3:05. I was also picking up my neighbor’s son. Two kindergartners and a 2nd grader. I looked up and saw some dark clouds. So, I threw the baby in his carseat and drove instead.
The children are officially registered as "walkers", so I just park about a block away from the school and wait for them at the crosswalk. Lots of us mom’s were standing around and chatting, waiting for the kids. The kindergartners come out first. As they were crossing the street with the crossing guard, I was waving at Emily and her friend, my neighbor’s son. Suddenly we started hearing siren’s and the dark cloud was on the ground and racing at us, like a dark, windy, rainy blob. I was foolishly trying to open an umbrella–which became an instant storm casualty. I froze–I had two kids, but I’d come for three. I didn’t know what to do, but everyone around me was screaming and yelling to take cover. I grabbed the baby out of his stroller and got the two little guys and we ran for the nearest house, where we were being beckoned along with the other children who’d made it across.
We poured into this gracious lady’s house. The power was already out, so we all went down into the dark basement to wait it out. I saw a mom I knew and asked what the other kids would be doing. She reassured me that they were taking them all back in the school and locking it down. So, I lent my cell phone to the handful of 4th graders who didn’t know where their parents were. When I got my phone back, I called my husband, who was sitting in a coffee shop watching the storm. One of the 4th grader’s was particularly upset and whenever my baby would cry she would get right in my face and say, "tell that baby there’s no tornado’s, tell that baby it’s only a bad thunderstorm, tell her (it’s a him, but I wasn’t correcting her), tell her right now!" I didn’t have my neighbor’s phone number, so I hadn’t called her to tell her we were ok until I realized that her son might actually know his own number, which he did, so I called her and she was relieved to hear all was well.
After about 20 minutes the storm let up and I took my crew out to my car. I couldn’t get back to where my stroller was because of all the downed wires. Police were blocking the roads off. I couldn’t believe the damage. There were trees down everywhere. The house where my car was parked had a tree on top of it. Cars were smashed. I loaded my van up (it was thankfully still in tact), a friend went to get my 2nd grader, because the kindergartner’s had had enough. Emily leaned over to me at one point in that basement and said, "Can we go home and go to bed?" I had to stop on my street and pull an enormous tree branch out of the road so I could get to my house.
We have 3 trees in our own backyard. One had fallen and was resting on top of the other two. Giant limbs had crushed part of the fence. Emily marched right inside and put on her pajama’s. Mercifully, we still had power. I called Bob and told him to go find the stroller. It was in a bush close to where we pick up the kids. Grace came home and told her own version of the storm story. It included some adults yellling, "find a cubby and get down, it doesn’t matter if it’s your cubby or who’s it is, just get down." It sounded tearful and scary. Thankfully, once the storm passed she was comforted by nice teachers and friends. She was very worried about her little sister, but they told her that she’d made it to me. And she came home brimming with excitement and anxious to tell the story.
More storms rolled through that night and many friends were without power. Some dear friends are still staying with us because their home has no power or water. Another brought over everything and put it in my freezer. School was canceled on Friday because of the school’s being without power. Tree guys took out the fallen tree yesterday–with much bravado and skilled moves. Church this morning was in the parking lot because the church still has no power.
All in all, it’s been an interesting weekend. I got an email this morning and some of the parents from school sound like they’re gearing up for a throwdown with our principal about how the whole thing was handled. I thought how I felt about it all. It could have been better. It also could have been much worse. I think there are two important things to remember: it came out of nowhere, and noone was hurt. I’m sure the administration will debrief and learn from the whole thing and that’s good enough for me. We’ve been through enough already.
As we sang, "Blessed be Your Name" at chruch outside this morning, I was grateful for the sunshine and the calm after the storm. But, I was also reminded, from all that I’ve learned this year and beyond, and from what I heard someone say last week: God is good–even when you don’t feel it. I know that. Always, regardless. I was grateful that today I can say that I feel it too.
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So, I’ve been trying to get on the “save the planet” bandwagon and in an effort to join the effort, I decided to ride my bike to the Farmer’s Market this morning. It’s about a 6 mile round trip jaunt. I wasted about 30 minutes trying to find my backpack to load my goodies in and my bike lock. In frustration, I finally made my husband empty his backpack and deciding to go with the “trust everyone not to steal my bike method” I hit the road. It was a perfect morning and the market is generally downhill from my house, so I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Once there, I hid my bike in a bush and toured the market. The Wheaton French market is lovely this time of year (albeit crowded, especially when you’re wearing a backpack) and I suddenly realized that I wanted to buy far more than my backpack could carry. The corn looked phenomenal. The tomatoes are ready. I wanted to make 
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