Friday Flashback

The forecast this weekend is for rain (surprise *snark*) and wind (hmmm - could be interesting). In fact, one local weather forecaster is whipping himself into a frenzy about this "wind event" that could be coming our way. He's saying things like "damage" and "significant" in the same sentence. G-r-e-a-t.

This was the weekend that Brad and I had set aside that I could go away by myself for a little "me" time. I have two talks coming up in the next month, one for a young moms group and one for my Tuesday morning women's group and some writing projects that I wanted to work on. The original plan was for me to go to the beach, but the recent heavy rains and the forecast for more heavy rain has made me wary of going too far from home. So it's likely I'll stay close to town this weekend. Besides, all I really need to get some work done is a quiet hotel room ANYWHERE with a coffee shop nearby.

All this buzzing about a potential windstorm has made me thing about our last big windstorm here in Portland in early December of 1996. One of the managers at work was a real weather nut and he knew this was going to be a big deal so he sent us all home early that day. I went to pick up my daughter at daycare and remember feeling a few gusts that shook my little Nissan Sentra like it was a toy. By the time I got home, we had already lost power. I put little N. in her room with the blinds open and it was light enough for her to play while I rounded up candles and flashlights for the evening. While grabbing candles out of my china hutch, I watched a rickety portion of our old fence fall to the ground like it was made of popcicle sticks.

After a while, little miss N. started to get bored. "Mama - can I watch Cinderella?" I had explained to her earlier why we couldn't turn the lights on but she was only 2 1/2 and didn't really get that the t.v. also ran on electricity.

I patiently explained that we couldn't watch Cinderella while the power was out. "Why don't we have power?" she asked.

"Because there is a big windstorm right now sweetie. Look outside at the leaves blowing."

"Mama - can we ask God to stop blowing. I really want to watch Cinderella!"

It was a very loooooong evening with a toddler who just couldn't understand why God wouldn't want her to have electricity so she could watch her beloved Cinderella. The power was out until the next morning but we were the lucky ones. One of my co-workers lost power for five days.

I'm hoping this wind event is a little less extreme. I'm all for the excitement of extreme weather every once in awhile (as long as folks don't get hurt) but I'm going to ask God to keep the power on this weekend. Being alone in a hotel room with the lights out doesn't sound like much fun!

Have a great weekend everyone! Hold on tight!