Stormy Nights

I mentioned in the weekly recap that I had a little property damage Friday night. That was the same night the main stage at the Indiana State Fair collapsed just before the Sugarland concert. Clearly my little bit of drama is nothing in comparison to that event and those who lost their lives that night. But this was still a Bekahland mess.

My friends Bill and Kristin had stopped by to see me while they were in Marion that evening. We chatted away for a couple of hours, and the sun shone brightly the entire time. My parents were supposed to arrive about 8:00 to look at my car, which has been making a funny sound. They ran late, and while the three of us waited for them to get there, I got a text from my personal weather service: Phats. He said storms were headed my way.

I shrugged it off. We've had so many storms this year that I've just stopped paying attention. Dangerous.

Mom and Dad finally showed up about 8:40, and literally the moment they drove in the driveway, a wind like I've never seen blew up from absolutely nowhere. Mom looked like she was in a tornado scene in a movie trying to walk up the porch in that wind. I kept telling her to hurry, and I think she was trying but it was just THAT WINDY.

I told her to wave Dad on inside until the storm blew over, but she said he wanted to look at the car right then. (Seriously!!!??!) He needed my keys, so I retrieved them and walked toward the back door to take them outside to him. I stepped down off the back steps and started to walk toward him to hand him the keys when I paused to look over my shoulder at the little mum plants I'd just purchased. I was debating on wether or not to move them aside so they didn't blow away.

That's when I saw it.

The tree in my neighbor's yard was falling right toward me. And when I say tree, I do not mean sapling. I mean a good, mature, 80-100 year old massive maple tree that has scattered its leaves over into my yard more years than I care to count. I saw it falling, then I heard the trunk splitting.

Y'all, I totally screamed like a girl. I dont' recall ever hearing that particular sound emit from my being before. I had no idea where the trunk was, because all I could see were thousands of leaves headed my way. And I was completely frozen - unable to move. Dad reached me right as the tree reached the ground: via my fence AND my power cable.
Sparks flew everwhere, the house (and the rest of my block) went dark, and rain began to pelt us. Mom, Dad, Bill, Kristin and I navigated the house through the help of my flashlight and some overly scented candles that should never be used simultaneously.

You should know that the loss of coffee pots, internet, and air conditioning turn me into a person you'd probably rather not know, so I packed up and headed to Ronda's house. I tried to sleep, but my head was splitting with a headache caused by lack of water, lack of food and I don't know...maybe A TREE IN MY YARD?!?!?!? So at 1:30 in the morning, I sneaked out of her house and came home to the hotness that was Bekahland - and my poor cat, who in the last three weeks, has lost her brother, been stepped on by her mom, and lastly had a tree crash into her yard. It's a wonder she doens't need medication.

I opened the window and tried to sleep the rest of the night. I was awakened about 7 in the moning by the lovely sound of the electric trucks showing up. God bless them.
That was how the tree looked in the daylight. Lovely, isn't it?

The electric company guys dug under the tree to retrieve the line and began to reassemble it.

They even cut off a few more of my tree's branches. I was supremely happy about that. Less to rake, you know.

I had my power back in about an hour, so I got ready and went to church. When I came home, I dug through the rubble IN MY HEELS no less...and surveyed the fence damage. Surprisingly, for having a tree laying on top of it, it survived fairly well. A few split and missing boards, but overall - not bad!

Think I can add this as a selling point to my house?

Comes with a spare tree!!!