an earthquake and hurricane...almost.

*on the verge of sleep at 1am

*sudden noise outside, wind that sounds like it may blow the house over

*I leap out of bed:  Mike!!  We have to go put the umbrellas down or they are going to be like missles through our table (and windows)

*Mike has no idea what I'm talking about or that it's a hurricane outside but sleepily follows me downstairs anyway being the good husband that he is...even at 1am

*Me (running down the stairs): I hope light bulbs haven't started breaking

*We look out our back door onto our deck...or try to look at our deck through an onslaught of sheets of rain.  Monsoon.   I'm not kidding.  

*I go to open the door and Mike pushes it closed:  We need to get ready to go out there, Davina.  We can't just open this door.

*We were getting ready for a little war.

*We put on huge winter jackets to protect us against the drenching we are about to get.  I put a blanket over my head.  Ummm...that's going to help...sure...

*We open the door and it's like the Red Sea parted...and flooded into our house.  It's too late to look back and assess the damage a 5 second open door has done.  It feels like we're in a hurricane movie.

*The wind is howling.  I have no idea how many mph but it has to be 500mph...or at least 50mph.  The lightning is putting on a show that could rival a country singer's concert and the thunder is so loud that even when are yelling at each other we still have no idea what the other person is saying.  We work in silence.  

*Quickly we unplug our edison lights, put down the umbrellas, unscrew light bulbs (we've already lost 15 in storms this season) and put them in our pockets, we grab the cushions off the chairs (big mistake), look at each other, give the nod, and we rush back into the house. 

*We are outside for a grand total of about 90 seconds.

*Soaked to the bone; we are now standing in about an inch of water. Rain water gushes like Niagara Falls off the chair cushions we saved from the tidal wave outside. There's a river from our back door to our garage door from the dripping chair cushions that rushed to the garage.  

*We are still at yelling volume to each other even though our house is quiet and the kids are in bed.  We suddenly realize this and then in whispers wonder how in the world not one of our kids has woken up and come to see what is happening.

*I get a mop and try to get the lake of water now on our kitchen floor coaxed into one of our strawberry picking buckets.  Every time I squeeze out the mop it seems like the water on the floor multiplies.  The rain is playing tricks on me.

*Mike goes upstairs for some towels.

*We lay the towels on the ground and start skating around on them laughing, wondering if the power is going to go out...

*The power goes out.

*We light a candle.

*We find flashlights.  None of them work.  Thank you kids.

*There have to be batteries around here somewhere.  Yes! Ten batteries in the back of the drawer.  Jackpot!!

*Two batteries work.

*We make sure the doors are locked, hang up all of our sopping wet clothes on the kitchen chairs, and trek back to bed.

*We are warm, dry, and cozy in our blankets.  Thunder shakes the house for 20 seconds straight.  Maybe it was an earthquake.

*We laugh about how the kids have slept through the whole ordeal.

*We drift almost off to sleep.

*And then I hear it...

*"Mom, I'm scared"

Once again sleep has just taken a turn down a different road.  I scoot over to make room for Grace to climb in bed with me.  I wrap my arms around her shaking little body and I pull her close and whisper in her ear, "It's okay, the worst of the storm has already passed."  She relaxes a little bit.

Soon she is sleeping soundly.

...and before I know it Emmett is standing at the foot of my bed saying loudly: "Mom!! Wake up we're late for school!"  

Me in a very hushed whisper:  Shhh....school is cancelled.  

Emmett (loudly because he's mostly still asleep):  What did you say about school??!!

Me:  Shhh....there's no school.  (I'm hoping that his-I-don't-realize-I'm-practically-yelling-because-I'm-mostly-still-asleep-voice doesn't wake my still dreaming girls)

And on cue I hear Miriam: What?  There's no school?!

Within a few minutes everyone is awake, excited at the prospect of freedom from school...bye, bye, sleep. 

Super Dog coming tomorrow.

surprise. LIFE.