Mommy Blog

Spring Break H20

in Giggles on April 24, 2016

I didn’t realize how much time had gone by on my blog, until first, I tried to login and couldn’t remember my password, and second, I saw that my last post was about SANTA CLAUS…yes, folks, SANTA CLAUS.

Good Grief.

Who knew being out of school and unemployed could be so utterly time consuming?  While sitting at home these past six months, consuming mass quantities of chocolate covered bon-bons and sipping on sweet champagne, I have managed a few other minor projects.  For starters, my children are all still alive.  And not one of them has made an appearance at ANY emergency room in the last six months.  So, I’m going to go ahead and put that into the WIN column.

Also, I re-wrote and have re-submitted my last book to a new agent (with the hopes of a new deal), and am currently writing a NEW BOOK.  That takes some time.

But over the last week (or so) the good people in and around Houston have been experiencing Flood-ma-geddon 2016.  Last week, it rained in Houston…for 24 hours.  Doesn’t sound like a big deal, right?  Shouldn’t have been a big deal.  Was a HUGE deal.  What should have been a relatively fast-moving thunderstorm, turned into an epic-biblical-event for the folks of Houston.  This thunderstorm sat on us for 24 hours and did nothing but dump mass quantities of water onto us.  How much water?

Enough water to power NIAGARA FALLS…for THREE DAYS.

Needless to say, Houston and her surrounding areas are water-logged.  We have about twenty waterways in and around the area; Every-Single-One-Of-Them-Is-Over-Its-Bank.  When that happens, the water has to go somewhere, so it flows into the streets, the highways…the neighborhoods.  While hundreds of homes and families have been utterly devastated, there are those of us who have been extremely fortunate; and escaped with only slightly rising water and a few hailstones.

While the rest of the country might miss school due to SNOW DAYS…down here, we miss school due to RAIN.

This monster storm blew through last Sunday night, so everyone was relieved that classes were delayed and eventually cancelled for Monday.  We were all exhausted.  By Tuesday, the adults became painfully aware of how much trouble our city was in.  The kids, on the other hand, were thrilled beyond measure to have no school, and began praying for no classes for the remainder of the week.  By Wednesday, those of us with minimal, to no damage, began thinking of ways to ship our kids to Austin in order that they might attend classes there.  By Friday, we had locked ourselves in our closets, and let the children have the house.

The kids were calling this Spring Break 2.0  or Spring Break H20…take your pick.

Here’s the deal with this kind of break in the school routine: with the real Spring Break, we (as parents) have time to plan, with this impromptu break…we got nothing.  The district was calling days one day at a time.  It was agony.  We had no idea what was going on.  To make matters worse, mobility was an extreme issue, as most of the city was under water.  We were stuck in the house with our kids, and in some cases (like mine) I had a couple of extra kids for the week because on our side of town, mobility was not (thankfully) an issue.

As I sit and write this, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and classes will resume tomorrow.  Praise the Lord.  The city is drying out.  Houstonians are resilient people.  I saw hundreds of people taking care of their neighbors through this disaster.  Jeff and I helped where we could.  We will rebuild and re-carpet…And brace ourselves for the next assault…Summer 2016…

For us…my mother is coming for a visit…tomorrow…hopefully that in and of itself will provide me with new material for the blog!

Here’s hoping your day stays high and dry!

-Dallas