Party Month Update

It's been a whirlwind of a few days here in Party Month 2012, as we kicked it off a bit early this year by visiting all of my immediate family in Hiawassee, Georgia to celebrate my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. We enjoy a few days of relaxation, hiking, waterfalling, campfire singing, good food eating, and general merriment. The best congratulations go to mom and dad for their wonderful marriage, their commitment to family, and for being a wonderful example of a loving life lived. It is absolutely obvious that none of us would be here without you, so thanks for everything.

Once we got home from that extended weekend, it was time to celebrate Grace's ninth birthday, as I wrote on here a few days ago. Her actual birthday was mid-week, so we acknowledged the day with morning doughnuts and gifts. Then we all had to go to camp and work and everything else. But we had party plans for this weekend--a few hours at the local pool with some friends, pizza, cake, and water. And wouldn't the water be great since it has been so hot and dry here in the Midwest? When was the last time we've gotten any rain, we thought to ourselves?

And then . . . Friday night came.

I left work about 4:30 to pick up Grace's cake and the sky was already darkening. I got into Meijer and then the bottom fell out. Torrential rain and hellacious winds kept coming and coming and coming for about twenty or thirty minutes. I knew Lynda and the girls were home and in the basement, so I wasn't too worried. I got my stuff, waited for the rains to slacken, got in the car and drove home.

By now power was out everywhere, traffic lights were inoperable, and I was seeing trees large and small down along the roads. Once I got into my neighborhood, I saw a few more trees down, but nothing too catastrophic. Lynda opened the garage and let me in. I was surprised that our two dead trees in the back yard were still standing--but I guess their complete lack of leaves made them less of a wind trap. Still, we were really lucky. No trees down, just limbs.

We waited out the power outage in the basement for a while, then got antsy and decided to go see if we could get any back up food supplies at a grocery store or some other food. Most restaurants were closed, except Arbys--which was pretty overwhelmed. We slipped into Giant Eagle, got some stuff, and went back home.

We opened the windows to let in some of the (slightly) cool air and went to bed. Some of us (not me) slept somewhat fitfully during the night, but woke up yesterday to renewed power. We managed to have the party yesterday afternoon and Grace and her friends had a good time.The pool certainly was a good place to be, considering how hot it continues to be. I've cleaned up the minor debris in our yard and continue to feel really lucky that we aren't negatively affected.

Since then, we've been trying to find ways to help. We're hosting one friend, who's apartment is powerless and he's avoiding the heat there. We have space for sleeping, a functioning AC, some extra refrigerator space for food storage, showers, and whatever else. Please, let our good fortune be to your advantage!