We have since lost touch with the friend who joined our group in junior high, not really talking to her in high school and probably have not seen her since graduating in 2003. However, the three of us still manage to see each other once or twice a year by the blessing that our three moms are really good friends and make a point of talking at least once a week. Our families have seen each other through temporary separations, poor crop and cattle years where we were forced to rely on the frozen meat and vegetables from the year before in order to survive, graduations of all sorts and sizes, and in the past year, two of three of us walking down the aisle and saying "I do".
As great as it was to catch up, it was truly an incredible weekend of storm watching and squatting (if I can use that term in this context...). Saturday was a gorgeous day, spent down on the water and playing beach volleyball. Sunburns were had in various proportions across the board and a large handful of good solid wipe outs on the water as various individuals tried their hand at tubing, wakeboarding, knee-boarding and skiing.
My two youngest siblings were scheduled to cater a wedding in a small, farming community about an hour away from the lake and so they hit the road (dressed like little penguins) in the mid afternoon. By the time Saturday evening had rolled around, clouds were beginning to build in the distance and shortly after our post-supper volleyball match, the younger crowd was hauled out of the water at the sight of rapid, intense lightening that was fast approaching. Before we knew it, the wind was more than we had prepared for and the awning on the trailer was pocketing the wind and shooting up, almost like a parachute would. (This caused numerous, un-bloggable words to leave dad's mouth!) and a panic to get everything put away and tied down before it was too late.
Then... while sitting on the swing watching the lightening and listening to the incredible thunder (yet, not raining) two of our crew came around the corner of the house, one handing his cell phone to my mom and one handing his phone to my dad... both of my sisters were trying to call and couldn't get through on anyone else's phones. The sky was green in the small community where they were; funnel clouds were spotted and it was storming worse than they had ever seen in their adolescent lives. The power in the hall had gone out and they were allowed to stay there for 30 minutes on back-up power, but if the breaker wasn't fixed in that short time, the wedding party would end early. You have to know my two sisters... if anyone would freak out in that situation, it would be them. One of them is scared of anything and everything and the other one is the baby of the family and simply doesn't have enough life experience to be "brave" in a situation like that where her older sister is crying and freaking out. Ha ha... oh man!
They attempted to take to the road and head back to the cabin themselves, but hit the large panic button when, while driving down the highway, witnessed a close-by lightening strike and virtually explode a tall tree and driving a few more feet to discover large, im-movable tree branches laying all over the road. The cell phones rang again, this time asking the guys to come and pick them up and bring them back.
All got home safely after hours of detouring and sitting to wait out the storm... late enough that I was actually startled when a gentle tap woke me up around 3 to ask if she could crawl into my sleeping bag. She was shaking - poor kid.
News reports yesterday showed incredible monetary damage to things from BBQ's blown down the street to a farmer loosing his barn and all his lifestock due to the falling barn and some scattering. Trees, literally, exploded when struck by the lightening - leaving debris all along the highway. Cement walls were blown down, a tower in the downtown core began to break off and injured people walking and in vehicles and a fire truck drove into a building. Semi's flipped, cars rolled into ditches, and trees decades old are no more.
This morning, a teary, red-eyed professor came in, apologized for his lateness and raspy voice, but a close friend died Friday night, taking his own life. Guess I'm lecturing more this term than I originally planned...
Gives a person a true sense of thankfulness that the storm, while damaging some crops and touching the lives of wonderful people, spared those who life couldn't exist without. Crops are easily enough to replace... adorable little sisters who want to crawl into the tent with you because they are still terrified of the stormy weather are both priceless and irreplacable!
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