Wednesday, February 2, 2011

the long wait

We had totally prepared for the situation.
There was now nothing we could do but go to bed and wait.
We had food, milk, fully charged cell phones,
fuel for our generator, two vehicles with full tanks of gasoline,
warm blankets and clothes laid out by our beds in case...of anything.

Monday we had called our friends and chatted with neighbors
to ensure all had knowledge of the storm predicted to affect
1/3 of the US population and was headed our way
with not snow but ice.

We offered to get prescriptions, bread, fuel...anything
they needed to prepare their families, homes and pets for the monster storm.
Forty thousand households were without power when we went to bed.
the trees were encased in ice.
Tick, tick, tick.
We finally fell asleep.I awoke at 3:00.
We, so fortunately, still had power but the sound--
CRASH!
Shattering.
It sounded like our world was falling apart.
I bolted out of bed to again look out our window.
I know my jaw literally fell open.
The trees, so burdened with the weight of the ice,
were doing back bends.
Trees were splaying, half of the trees bent over houses, garages
and parked cars in driveways.
I could not see any trees falling but the crashing sounds continued
over and over as if hearing fifty or sixty car accidents with
glass shattering.
Very jarring.
I was so worried about the trees that house the birds.
I love my birds and bunnies.
Every two hours I had been rotating wide, shallow containers
of fresh water and food for them.
Now their world seemed to be crashing down
and with it we, humans, could have gaping holes in our nests,
lose our power and have frozen pipes.
This could be a dire situation for many days.

Finally, after about two hours, I finally fell back asleep.
{after I had sent our family an updated email at 3:12 am}

I awoke again at 5:30.
It must have warmed up a few degrees after all because when I
looked out the window I know my jaw fell open to the the ground
as I beheld ALL the ice was off the trees.
They were all UPRIGHT.
I was amazed.
I truly saw a miracle.
I am teary writing this.
I cried out with gratitude for us, the birds
and all in our community.
Thank you, Heavenly Father.
Thank you, Mother Nature.
Thank you.

My husband knelt by the window on one knee to get a better view,
looked out and echoed, "It really is a miracle."

We realized the shattering sounds were all the ice
slipping off the trees and branches and falling
to the earth.

We weren't totally out of the woods yet as we could lose power
at any moment and it is cold out;
however, it was dawning a more hopeful day.

I did wonder aloud if Punxsutawney Phil would see his shadow...or not.
I love winter but this is enough, even for me.

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