When It Rains, It Pours (literally)

I can't tell you how many times I've said over the last year, "What else could possibly happen? Things can't get any worse." (Yes, I'm aware that's dramatic and certainly not true, but each minor catastrophe we've had feels enormous.) 

Just 36 hours after I wrote about how things are looking up and how we're making the final payment on the Jeep, well... I learned that things can, in fact, get worse.

I hoped to put more photos on this post, but my computer battery died—I’m posting this from my phone! Ugh. So if the formatting is weird, that’s why.

Last night, we had the worst storm I've ever experienced. And that includes the 2010 tornado! The lightening was like a strobe light for about five hours and the thunder was SO LOUD. The power went out at 12:30 am, and the storm just kept getting worse.

At about 2:00 am, Noah came rushing into my room and said there was something wrong with Chick. He thought Chick was choking or something because his meow was very loud and strangled sounding. He is deathly afraid of storms, and he only meows like that during thunderstorms (he wasn't choking, just scared). I felt terrible for him, but I couldn't calm him--he just kept pacing around. (Meanwhile, his scared-of-his-own-shadow brother Duck was just chillin' in his cat bed by the window, watching the storm.)

At around 3:00 am, I went out in the living room because Chick was wailing. Eli heard me and came out as well. We grabbed flashlights and looked at the storm outside. I was shocked that there weren't any fallen trees or anything--there really wasn't even any wind! I was relieved about that, thinking, “At least we won’t need a new roof!”

I couldn't sleep (it's so hot when the air conditioner won't work), so I read my book until around 5:00 am, and finally fell asleep. At 7:15, I woke up and saw that Jerry had called on his way home from work. When I called him back, he was clearly having a panic attack. He said someone had run him off the road and the Jeep was completely ruined. It doesn’t look bad, but the tow truck driver said he was sure there is no salvaging it. It didn’t even try to start after pulling it out. (Jerry was physically okay—just angry and panicked.)

I was stunned after talking to Jerry (who was waiting on the police report). I looked outside and I could not believe my eyes. I yelled, "HOLY MOTHER!!", drawing the kids to the window as well, and took some photos while I checked out the damage. We have not had a flood for the entire time we've lived here--20 years. It was unbelievable.

So, I guess I jinxed us when I said things couldn't get worse. Someone is trying to prove to me that they can. Funnily enough, I didn't even get upset. I laughed! I think I might be losing my mind, actually. I've gotten used to all of these things happening to us and today really didn't faze me.

The street was totally flooded as well:

I have no idea what will happen with the insurance on the Jeep (it's fully covered, but insurance hasn't done shit for us in the past, so I'm expecting NOTHING at this point). Our house sits up high, which we always found kind of annoying (but now I'm very thankful for that) so we didn't get damage in the house.

A lot of our neighbors, however, weren't so lucky. Next door, my neighbor who has the most amazing garden you've ever seen, was totally flooded. She works SO HARD on that garden (and she shares her veggies with me!); I feel terrible for her. Some of the houses had water completely submerging the foundation. Our house was on an island, basically.

I felt bad for the squirrels, so I laid some boards for them to get from the tree to the grass. (I love them as much as my pets.)

They were so funny--they'd come grab a nut and then there was no place for them to bury it since the entire backyard was flooded, so they just buried it a few feet away from where they got it. Noah couldn't go to his second day of classes because the street was flooded.

I asked Eli if he'd want to take the kayaks out with me--how often is that a possibility? I thought it would be fun, but he was too embarrassed. A couple hours later, I could see that one of the neighbors had the same idea--they had a paddleboat!

Anyway, I'm not going to even think about what disaster could happen next. I'm super disappointed about the Jeep. Now, we're down to one car between Jerry, Eli, and me. (Noah's car is a stick shift and none of us knows how to drive it.) I'm ridiculously tired now, after being up most of the night, so I'm going to try to take a nap. Maybe this is all just a nightmare? ;)