Weathering the Storm

It's been a while since my last post, but things have been "up in the air" (literally!) here. Last Thursday night we were hit by 65 m.p.h. winds. We lost a section of our roof shingles to the wind (imagine the tornado scene in the Wizard of Oz), and watched our neighbor's 100 y.o. Douglas Fir trees bend in half. Greg and I watched the scene from our bedroom window, while Clara slept cozily (while visions of sugarplums danced in her head?) in her room. Thankfully, she slept through the worst part of the storm, and we emerged the next morning relatively well off. Our power was out, but no trees landed on our house or car, unlike others in our neighborhood. Friday morning we lit candles and our gas stove and ate breakfast in our chilly dining room. Greg's parents called us and while they were out of power, their athletic club did, so we all headed there where we camped out for most of the day, taking advantage of the workout equipment, showers, and the very packed child care room for Clara. After having dinner with friends whose power never went out, we headed back home. Encouraged by the many homes and businesses whose power had been restored, we were disheartened to find our block still dark. We spent a very cold Friday night snuggled in bed together under the blankets. We awoke Saturday morning to see our breath. We knew we needed to leave the house that morning for someplace warm, so we headed back to the club. We spent another day there with Doug and Kathy and were deciding where we should go that evening to sleep when, fortunately, Kathy spoke to a neighbor who said the power was restored at their house. Never have I been so glad to sleep in a warm bed. Every day we went back to check on our house and cat, and while the house was still quite cold, everything was fine. We awoke to an early morning phone call on Tuesday from a friend who had driven by our house and seen our porch light on again. Our power had returned during the night, and our toasty, warm house was ready for us. Clara was happy to see the cat and her toys again, though she misses all the attention that her grandparents lavished on her while we were at their house. We are very lucky to have had family to take us in and that no one was hurt in the storm or its aftermath. Being safe at home has proven to be the best Christmas gift we could hope for.