Therapy Tuesday
Photo by: dcjohn
Here in the Mid-Atlantic, it's been quite a week. We had finally dumped our hotter than average temperatures and the end of summer was finally in sight. Fall would bring the relief from the heat. This summer, we didn't have any of the monstrous thunderstorms that caused so much damage last year (for us, a downed tree, and tons of branches and leaves).
I was sitting at home with the baby eating a late lunch. She was content in her bouncey, starting to doze. Then, the house started to shake. My first thought, "Crap, which appliance broke, and what will this cost us?" I quickly did a mental scan of what we owned: dishwasher was off, washer and dryer were off, the fridge sounded fine...plus, what was upstairs that would make the noise and rattle? Then it hit me--this was an earthquake! We aren't supposed to have them on the East Coast...I couldn't remember what to do. I grabbed the baby and headed to the basement, so that I was not near any windows.
Once the shaking ceased, I walked upstairs, and then I realized that going to a low level place was for hurricanes and tornadoes, not earthquakes. Fortunately, there wasn't any damage, so the house hadn't fallen on me. OK, I survived that curve ball from Mother Nature.
Watching the news the next day, it seemed that a hurricane was brewing and heading our way. It had been at least a decade since this area last had an actual hurricane (not the aforementioned severe thunderstorms, which are pretty typical). This time, I had time to prepare. We made sure to have food, but more importantly, flashlights. My 4-year-old couldn't wait for the lights to go out. We tried to get extra batteries, but others in our area seemed to have hoarded them, thus none were available to us when a new shipment arrived at Home Depot. (Really, who needs 15 packs of batteries?)
Then we hunkered down and waited...for not a whole lot. We were spared the brunt of the storm, and once again, no damage. So all week, the media has been in full swing with the weather catastrophes that were supposed to fall upon us. I admit, I feel a little cheated that we missed out. Not that I want to deal with the hassle of no electricity. But I had mentally prepared. And my expectation wasn't realized.
I wonder, is there anyone else who was a bit disappointed? I know that many people were hit hard by the hurricane, and I'm not making light of such a storm. I guess we'll have to wait and see what the winter brings.
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