Careful What You Ask For

She moved in about a month ago and really wanted to have a Derby Party since she has some more room now. I was there to celebrate her birthday, so who was I to argue?

As expected, it was raining when we woke up on Saturday so Will's soccer game was canceled. We all piled up in her bed and I picked out recipes to make for our impromptu party. When Mom got there, we headed to the grocery store.

As we walked out, an elderly man and his daughter were ahead of us. They had barely gotten to the threshold of the door when he lit up a cigarette. Julie and I were disgusted but moved around him to get to the car. Before we could get to the car, the bottom fell out. By the time we made it to her neighborhood, Julie's windshield wiper flew off. Oh, how we laughed.

As I started cooking, Will sat at the kitchen table to eat his lunch. Julie put her ipod in its dock and we were listening to Fleetwood Mac. I told her that I hoped that moment would be one of Will's first memories.

They only showed the actual race - the rest of the afternoon was covering the severe weather. Pretty soon after the derby was over, the pictures of a flooded I-24 started appearing. We watched as a mobile home floated down the west bound lanes and a boat came up the east bound lanes to rescue a trucker. I installed a new app on my phone that night so I could be alerted of any severe weather.

Etta and I woke up pretty early and headed downstairs to no Dish signal. She made it outside and back in just before the bottom fell out again. I decided I better make a cup of coffee before we lost power and we settled in to watch the rain.

The power went off at 7:42. Will woke up soon thereafter. We ate some Fruity Pebbles and let Julie sleep in. Mom and Dad had power, so he tried to come get us at some point, but couldn't get out of his neighborhood.

It wasn't until I went to charge my phone in my car and saw somebody down the road with a raft that we had any indication of the devastation that lay 100 yards away.

It turned out to be a weekend Will will never forget.