Where Have I Been?

I'm certain many of you have been wondering where I've been for so long (just trying to pretend I have more than 4 readers---just let me have that). It's been a crazy busy week---and April was a crazy busy month for that matter.

I was on staycation from last Friday until today. Yup 11 whole days off! John traveled some for work, Harvey and I spent some quality time at home (and Target, of course). Then Tuesday night I met John's parents half way to give them the Harv for a few days. I had hand surgery Wednesday morning (so long Cysta!), and I knew there was no way I could maneuver a 26 pound non-walking child the day after surgery. And so began my surgery mom-cation. While my hand was still wrapped up and I was able to rest most of the time, I was not in a tremendous amount of pain. And, when you don't have a child and there's no need to ask a babysitter permission to go out, you take advantage of that while you can! John and I went out to dinners, went out for dessert, attempted to see a movie (more on that in a bit), and we even went to see Jimmy Buffett. Hey, it's not everyday you are offered free third row tickets and you can actually go! I did feel a little guilty every now and then, but I got over it and enjoyed time with my husband.

This weekend, as many of you know, Nashville was hit hard by 13+ inches of rain in 2 days. Saturday, it rained and stormed all.day.long. We went to breakfast and we were going to run some errands, but neither of us wanted to be out in the rain. So, we went to a movie. About 30 minutes in, they lost power. Bummer. We NEVER go to movies (and after we spent $32 for a matinee, 1 large popcorn and 2 shoe box sized Cokes, we remembered why) so we were pretty disappointed. On our way home, we had to turn around twice---once for a tree that was down, and once for a nasty wreck close to our house. It was starting to get pretty bad out. But that certainly didn't stop us from going to see Jimmy that night! Oh, no sir, I wasn't missing that! Mama's on vacation, and she's lost her mind.

We got home that night just as the bottom dropped out. Storms, all night long. Our weather radio going off, all night long. I told John the next morning I felt like we had a newborn in the house again because that darn radio "needed" us so many times. We woke up to find trees down all over and around Harvey's windows. Because of all the rain, the branches were really soft and didn't break the windows, and the trunks of the trees had missed them by several inches. We were relieved to see that, but we had a much bigger problem. There's a tiny tiny creek that's several feet from our house. But Sunday morning, there were raging rapids, and it was inches away from coming in Harvey's room. We watched the creek grow as the rain just kept coming, and finally decided to clear his room. Such a helpless feeling to see it coming, and to know there's nothing you can do but wait. So we waited. And I still have no idea how his room never saw a drop of water. The water levels were above the concrete slab, so we thought it was certain his room would be wet. We were so very thankful to have been spared.

We were glued to the TV watching live coverage as so many people lost everything they had. So heart breaking. We were going to meet John's parents Sunday to get Harvey, but that obviously didn't work out (only after about an hour of me trying to convince myself and John there were probably ways around flooded I40. I missed my boy).

We were finally able to go get him yesterday evening. There was some concern that the Red River was going to flood part of I24 that we needed, oh but I certainly didn't care! When we got to the bridge, the water was seriously less than 2 feet from coming up over the bridge. But I wasn't scared of getting across but not being able to get back. At this point I was a full on crazed mommy maniac that wanted her family back together. Even if that meant (stupidly) being stuck in Clarksville.

When we came back through, the water was right where we left it. The moral of that story: all's well that ends well. And, your wife is always right. Especially the second part.

So, we're back to "normal". We're all home, all back at work, I'm all kinds of gimpy but working through it. It's crazy how much you need two hands. Stay tuned for Harvey's first birthday this week! I can't even believe it. I know, everyone says that. But really, it's unreal. Lots of fun sweet posts to come this week!