What. A. Week.
I don't know where to begin and I am scared snotless to try and put an ending on things.
We were threatened with a forest fire. We were contacted about being on standby to evacuate our farm. This is the farm we fantasized about during deployments. We kept ourselves trucking through with farm plans as we lived apart so Keith could work and I could take care of the kids' doctoring. This tiny little farm has all of our hopes and dreams and every extra cent to our name sunk into it's pores. It is where our children can play outside without fear and where we have begun to grow wholesome food for their bellies. Yes it has insurance and no it is not much to look at, but we love it. When we gaze at the property we see all of the potential it holds and our sweet future days.
When there is the risk of losing it all, it feels as if all of the dreams you have turn black and ash out. So we have sat since then on standby. At this point the fire is still not out but it has shifted gears.
An October snowstorm helped with that.
With the snow came wind and with the wind came major power line damage. Broken lines and lines laying over roads... Tree's on lines and broken poles. Power outages all across the area. At one point there were 600 some people with no electricity. None. During a snowstorm.
Guess what? We were not prepared in the least. No wood stove. No generator. No common sense. We were stranded out here with sloppy back roads and a 2WD van. We had to feed the kids ice cold food and drinks (they eat comfortably when their food is warmed and struggle with cold), and we had to huddle and cuddle for warmth. Normally that would be great, but not in the cold, dark confines of an electricity free home. Oh... and in the middle of a snowstorm.
The storm messed up my brothers weekend as well. He was crowned Homecoming King!!!!
Due to the storm, they basically canceled Homecoming. I am hoping it gets rescheduled, but one can only imagine how those kids felt. Talk about taking the wind out of their sails.
Then on Saturday morning I found out that my biological fathers dad had passed on. This is a tough one because as you know I do not have my long-term memory, therefore I have no memories of him. What I do know is that I have the same relentless sense of humor as him and find joy in ripping on people. From what I have been told over the years, I get a lot of that from him.
Lately he had been on my mind a lot. Well, him and his wife. I have been battling with myself in the decision as to whether or not to go meet them. There would have been a point in my life where they were very important to me, and I feared if I didn't take the plunge and fight my fear then I would live to regret it.
It looks like my opportunity has passed.
Now I will never know. I will never know if I were to be welcomed or rejected. I will never get to hear stories of the passed muttered through his lips and I will never know why all of the contact was severed. All I can do is hope that his last days were tranquil and that he is at rest.
Then that afternoon, we had to let Hank go. I cannot recant this story, but it is in the entry prior to this.
Since Saturday afternoon, my little family has been in pain. We have been laying low and cuddling and watching movies. It was a hard week and all I can do is hope that the worst has passed. Stress came at us in huge amounts and we made it through. I did learn a lot of valuable lessons. I am calling State Farm this week to double check our Home Owners Insurance coverages We are now getting a weather emergency action plan put into place complete with a generator.
I am now going to torture as many people as I can for pics and stories of my biological paternal grandfather. I also want to know why we were estranged.
As for Hank, I am coming to terms with the knowledge that even if we only had him for a week, we may have given him the best week of his life. He will forever be a part of my heart and I hope he is at peace now.
On to another week. I will be laying low as I recuperate and I think that's OK. I need to sign Gage up for 4-H and Hockey this week and sell some of his Boy Scout popcorn. I am not good at that sort of stuff, so this will give me a chance to try and get motivated.
On to the second week of October.
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