family time during a crisis

After several gorgeous evenings of having dinner on the deck overlooking the Roanoke Valley, my visit to see my parents on the farm was coming to a close along with soaring temperatures.  Friday evening while finishing up dinner, inside the house due to 100 degree heat, a storm was brewing in the distance.  Within minutes, it was lightning. You know that “cloud to ground” kinda lightning.  No thunder, no rain, but horrific, gusting winds.  As we watched in the distance it was if we were on top of a mountain in Afghanistan watching bombs going off during war time.  Suddenly transformer after transformer blew resulting in a red glow…and right before our eyes we could see portions of the valley go dark.  Within seconds we had no power.  Flashlights were found, candles were lit and the fortunate part of the first night was how the temperature cooled from the storm making for great sleeping weather with the windows wide open.

Fast forward over the next 48 hours and I’ll spare you the details, but just know we dealt with the usual.  Spoilage in the refrigerators, no water as the family home is on a well system and thus the pump had no electricity.  (Well you know what happens when you don’t have water…yep, you can’t flush the toilets.)  No phone service and cell phones with very little life remaining.  Over the next two days we were able to find some grocery stores open and purchase water along with a cooler, ice and a few grocery items.  Trips were made looking for outlets to charge cellphones, along with iPads and computers to help pass the time.  We looked for restaurants that were open to take the opportunity to dine and cool.  Unfortunately we missed a family wedding and other opportunities to visit friends.

An adventure, a wake-up call to bring attention to all we take for granted, but also an opportunity for lots of family time as well.  My father has Alzheimer’s and this whole event was quite upsetting to him.  As you can only imagine he wasn’t able to make the connection to many things not working as usual.  One of the nights we made preparations to sleep in the downstairs area as it was a touch cooler there, so we started to discuss who would be sleeping where.  Of course my parents would take the only bedroom downstairs and the rest of the family would take the couches or the floor.  So in comes dad with a very large furry-like blanket that mom and dad used back in the day when they’d frolic on the deck under the stars…he’d gathered pillows as well to form a bed on the floor.  It was the most precious act to have witnessed and one that I’ll always remember, thus the reason for this photo.

The very next morning my dad made the statement…I don’t ever want to come back here again…let’s go home!  Of course we all had a good laugh on that one!  The good news?!  Power is back and much earlier than expected!  Mom, you’re a trooper!! xoxo