when you type in "blogger.com" and the firefox "fill-in" doesn't remember it for you. Whoops! But to say there has been a lot going on here would be an understatement.
Of course by now everyone knows about the flooding in Tennessee. It was the craziest thing (actually, still is the craziest thing - I think the really hard part is just beginning for most). I have been speechless. It is absolutely heartbreaking to know that so many people have lost their lives, their homes, their belongings. And it's also heartbreaking to see my beautiful hometown of Nashville essentially in ruins in many areas. And it all seemed to happen so quickly! When the flooding really started happening, we had stopped at Nana & Papa's house to feed their dogs (they were out of town). We were on our way to Clarksville to our friends' Derby Party, and since the kids hadn't eaten lunch, we grabbed a snack at "Old MacDonald's." The kids and I were inside eating and John Michael said he wanted to go check on the greenhouse before we left because he said sometimes water would get in it when it rained hard. It was about ten minutes later when he came back in, and he said, "You probably need to give Jessica a heads up that we're going to be running a little late." I was confused and asked him why, and he just told me to come look. WOW - it was unlike anything I had ever seen. The creek had flooded completely over the driveway into the front yard and as we stood there and watched, the water was rising. He told me to rest assured that as soon as the rain let up, the water would drop quickly.
So he went back out to "rescue" some equipment and other things around the farm, and I went back in with the kids to check out what the news was saying. The rain just kept. on. coming. And there was more behind it on the radar! I started getting worried that we weren't going to make it to the party at all (please don't think I'm the most selfish person ever - I still had no idea the magnitude of what was happening!), Addie kept asking when we were going to see "Baby Kate," and Landon was irritable (we had counted on our drive to Clarksville for a nap :)). Then JM came back inside, changed his clothes, and said he thought we'd be staying the night. Unfortunately for SuperMom, Landon had been a little wheezy that week (diagnosed as allergies and we've started Claritin and are seeing a little improvement) and I had not brought his medicine, never imagining we wouldn't be home before morning! The weather reports were starting to talk about flooding everywhere and the numerous street closures in Franklin, including the INTERSTATE! Geez. I spoke to my mom on the phone and she told me that she and my dad were unable to get out of their neighborhood to go to the Jimmy Buffet concert. Yikes! After about an hour - and when the radar showed a "lull," we decided to brave it to try to get home. We had to take some creative detours, but we made it home fine - and just in time for the tornado sirens. Yuck. They went off three times that night. Thankfully, they were just warnings. Of course, we know how very blessed our families are to have stayed safe and not have permanent damage to our homes (we had none, our parents' homes both had water in their basements).
Work has been very busy due to the flooding in Franklin. It seemed so abstract to me until the other day. Don't get me wrong - I had seen Hillsboro Road covered in water, and seen pictures of the parks in Franklin as lakes. But I had my first upclose glimpse of the aftermath while driving to Publix the other day. Such a routine task, right? Well, I looked over to my left and saw what appeared to be the entire contents of a family's home on their front yard - clothes on what appeared to be 10 to 12 makeshift clotheslines; baby toys everywhere; and a crib on its side. It brought me to tears. I can't imagine.
In case you haven't seen this video yet, it has some moving photographs...
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