Things I Have "Survived"
My adult life has been full of adventure. I have survived some very real and very imaginary things dealing with weather. We were reminded of some of these cleaning out the garage. You know we bought a couple of t-shirts to prove it! ;)
Lets take a look:
- I survived the "earthquake" of 1990. Someone predicted that the Big One would hit Memphis on the New Madrid fault line. The city was in pure chaos. Should we stay or should we go? Go to work or stay at home? Big D & I decided to stay in Memphis and go to work. The earthquake never came.
- I survived the ice storm of 1993: I was pregnant with Lamb at the time. It literally brought Memphis to a standstill. Luckily, we did not lose power; however, my mom did. So, in my little apartment, she & my brother came to stay. For days. A Burger King right by me also had a power and some food. People, including us, waited in line hours for something "yummy" to eat.
- I survived Tropical Storm Allison: Not having grown up in the area, Big D & I weren't too sure about tropical storms or hurricanes. Even though this was only a tropical storm, it's the one thing that really scared me. Big D & I survived this separately. He was stranded on the interstate overnight due to flooding. I was at home with two young kids and a new kitten. I would not have known to worry about Big D if a coworker hadn't called to make sure he made it home ok. And, of course, we did not own cell phones at the time. At the time, it was the longest night of my life, worrying & waiting. Finally, the next morning around 9am, he called. A man offered to let him use his cell phone. A large truck drove through the water enabling all the cars to follow in its wake. Big D finally made it home safe & sound around 11am. After that, we got cell phones. And the kids (not mine since they weren't in school yet) got a Rain Day! Little did I know then that my kids would get Hurrications.
- I survived the Hurricane-that-Wasn't-for-Houston Rita: It was too traumatic. I won't bore you with the details again. If you want, you can read them here or here.
- I survived Hurricane Ike: Again, I won't bore you with the details since it happened almost 4 months ago. You can read about it here, when things were still exciting, and here, when things suddenly weren't fun anymore. We are still dealing with the aftermath, but things aren't as depressing as they once were. Ty's Christmas present was a complete back fence. It was a Christmas present to us to just let him out back to do his business. Our roofer is still in talks with our insurance but he is very optimistic. He thinks we'll have 100% of the money in a couple of weeks. We are cautiously hopeful.
I'm sure I'll survive many more quirky weather trends. The only question will be if I get the t-shirt or not. ;)
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9 comments:
It just goes to show that no matter where you live, you're going to have to deal with something. Yes, we have hurricanes here. But other places have tornadoes, blizzards, ice storms, earthquakes, wildfires, etc. Mother Nature is a part of our lives whether (weather) we like it or not.
I still shudder when I think about that Rita evacuation, tho. UGH!
Thats alot of weather and natural disasters!
I survived Ike, and Allison, and before that... Alicia, which was 1983. You've survived quite a bit! An earthquake would scare me!
I remember the '93 incident as the Blizzard of '93! We had about 3 feet of snow and my dad got stuck about 30 minutes away in his 18 wheeler in it. He had to hitch a ride home because we could not get out. Luckily I was not without power more than a few days, but there were people in the area without for a few weeks. The only thing I remember other than the stuff about Dad was how we didn't have school for almost 2 weeks! It was awesome :)
And Rita... we won't go there!
do not forget the Boston snow blizzard that was worse than the one in 78. were you there for the dust storm in OKC? how about the tornada while in school in Pine Bluff. yes you have had some bad time with mother nature thank goodness GOD is stronger.
I agree with B/S...it just doesn't matter where you live...you'll get hit with something! For us...it's always hail, for friends in South Springfield it's always tornadoes. Mother Nature could use some valium, eh?
I'm stuck on you being frantic when Big D was "missing." It must have been horrific.
On a less serious note, I think I still have my T-shirt from the '89 Loma Prieta quake.
I was in an earthquake in Memphis when I was little. I was in the bathtub, and I was thinking it was really weird to have the water splashing so high for no reason. It had to be before 1981.
And that ice storm in Memphis---my grandparents lived close to Memphis State and were without power for like 4 weeks!! The worst thing was they didn't even go stay with my aunt. Their house had gas heat and stove, so they were warm, but it was dark at night. I think that part was the worst because that's not the best neighborhood, and my grandmother is a city girl who likes a light outside her house. :-)
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!!
Holy cow - you've been through a LOT! I'm very afraid of natural disasters, so your strength amazes me.
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