The Week That Was

It has been some days since I have been able to post anything due to the Ice Storm, power outage, disaster cleanup, and life in general. I am hoping to get bqck into a regular routine on Monday.

I do hope that everyone who had to endure the storm and it's aftermath are doing well. It still looks like a war zone around here, but it feels a bit more manageable. And it was nice to see so many neighbors helping neighbors during the crisis. It was good to know that you're friends are your friends and that there are still some people that you can really count on in life.

The storm lead to an interesting lifestyle for a week or so. I had some reaffirmations and some insight to many different things. I found that I still tend to be very aggressive in most "stressful" situations and that my wife tends to be very patient; yet somehow we are rarely, very rarely, at each other's throat. That is more of a testament to her than of any kind of positive for myself. But either way, there are few people that I would enjoy being "cooped up" with, but Brandy made it very bearable. Despite the difficult week.

And it was a difficult week. We had the stomach bug run through the family during the week. We spent two sleepless nights helplessly listening to tree limbs and ice bombard our roof, knowing that there were massive holes being made. But praise God, we haven't found any yet! We, like everyone else, ran out of firewood. We lived out of the trunk of our car, like gypsies, for a few days; until the latch on our trunk messed up. And yes, all of our stuff was inside the unopenable compartment.

I caught a frozen limb in the head, leaving a decent cut. I was shielding my son and would gladly do it again, like most every dad would. And to hear my son tell me that he could take the hit next time so that I wouldn't have to makes me feel very proud. What a good kid he is!

Both kids did really well during the week. It was more of an adventure for them. They liked sleeping by the fireplace and cooking food wrapped in foil then placed on the stove. It was exciting and new and we were all together, very closely, and they loved it. You can't buy that kind of bonding or those kind of memories at any store in the world. I am so thankful for my kids.

I found that I do miss the Internet much, much more than cable television. If it weren't for insomnia, I wouldn't watch much t.v. Don't get me wrong, I like the shows that I like, but I really think that I was better off without cable. And that is all that I will say about that today; I'm trying to spare any controversial thoughts today.

Like many others, I take a lot of things for granted. Like light bulbs. My own bed. My quiet time. And like many others, I wonder what would happen to our society if we had to live on and with less. I found that it could be as much of a blessing as anything.

I still can't talk about the Superbowl.

I chased down a drunk driver while my wife talked with the highway patrol on the cell phone. That was interesting! Luckily we rarely got over 80 mph on good roads, but it was none the less nerve racking for my wife. My aggressive nature took over, so I was good. I kept thinking of my family and my friends and their families traveling on the highway and desperately wanted the drunk off of the road. Maybe I will write about it some other time. It really wasn't that spectacular, thank God.

And that is the week in a nutshell, minus the chainsaw incidents, the regular life stuff, and the like. I'm certain that my week was much better than many people and I am more thankful for more things than I was a week ago.

I do hope everyone is well and that I can get back to a normal routine next week. Thanks for reading and thanks for all of your support!