May 2, 2009
Where do I start? Might as well start from the beginning.....
FRIDAY NIGHT:
It was a beautiful evening. The stars were out; the sun was setting and Liz was dared to go 90 mph in her old lady Toyota Camry. Never being one to turn down a dare, she did as she was dared. Unfortunately, the gas pedal stuck in the DOWN position & nothing she did could get the car to slow down much less stop. Another unfortunate part of this story was she was on the road that leads directly into the lake......yep, the LAKE was getting closer and closer and she was running quickly out of road. As she tried in vain to stop the car by standing on the brakes to no avail, and passing the Marina going 90 mph, all the friends waiting on her to arrive there thought that the blur that just went by looked like her, but just weren’t sure.......until they heard the grinding gears and burning rubber of the car going into neutral. They waited anxiously to hear the “splash” that they just knew was about to happen. Fortunately, that never happened. She got a glimpse of intelligence & turned the car off. As she tried to turn down the volume of Chuck yelling at her & making sure her backseat passengers, Troy & Becky, were okay & hadn’t soiled themselves from fear, she discovered the floor mat had wedged itself on the gas pedal which caused a near-catastrophe. That was Friday.
SATURDAY:
We had been looking forward to having Chuck’s family out to the lake for a weekend of boating, fishing, jetsking and visiting for weeks. Everyone started arriving that morning.........along with the rain. Didn’t matter though. We were determined to achieve all that we had planned on doing that weekend anyway. After all, what’s a little rain??? At last count, we had 11-14. We jetskied in the rain; we boated in the rain; we ate brisket in the rain; we visited in the rain. And it continued to rain....and rain...and rain... After several jetski falls in the cold water and pouring rain (I don’t need to exfoliate this week.....ouch.....that rain hurts when it hits your face at 60 mph), we decided to head indoors. Unfortunately, not all of us made it into the house safely. Diane, my sister-in-law, slipped on the slick tile back porch and hit her head. So, we headed to the ER to get her checked out. We hadn’t been there very long when we hear loud sirens going off and a man’s voice sternly announcing “CODE GRAY” “CODE GRAY” over the loud speaker system. Quickly we learn we are in the path of a tornado heading our way. Well, of course we are, I thought to myself! After all, that’s about the only thing that hadn’t happened yet that day. Fortunately, within an hour or so, we learn the tornado is no longer heading our way and that Diane is going to be fine. Great news!! And that was Saturday.
SUNDAY:
Sunday came slowly as most everyone had a restless night with thunder, lightning, wind and RAIN. More rain......and then a little more rain. Woke up just needing a large, strong cup of coffee. Made my way into the kitchen, poured me a nice big cup of java, put my usual two ice cubes in it....... and then I looked out the window. I believe my first words were “holy crap” but it might have been something else......this part is a blur. There was no longer a defined line between the lake and the yard. It was all one now. And what was that thing floating out in front of the dock? Ahhh, that’s our jetski that used to be on the other side of the boathouse. I quickly get a ball cap on, throw on a coat and, still in my PJ’s with horses on them, head outside in the pouring rain to get the jetski tied down. After wading through ankle deep water, I arrive at the boathouse to find the other jetski is also gone. With the help of Chuck & his brother, Doug, I get on the only accounted for jetski and went in search of the other jetski. I find it floating at the neighbors boathouse. Just a reminder here; it’s still pouring and I’m still in my horse PJ’s. I drag the runaway jetski back home and notice our neighbors jetskis is almost sinking. Plus, their other jetski is also missing. I finally locate their other jetski down the lake a bit. I push it back to its home where Doug ties it down. Already a full day and it’s only 7:00 am and I still haven’t had coffee yet. I was impressed with my ability to function without that first cup of coffee; I’m guessing the cold water and rain was my caffeine. As we watched the lake billow higher and higher closer to our house, my only thought was, “I sure am glad I took out that Flood Policy two years ago.” I’m probably the only person on Lake Cypress Springs (after all, it’s a “Constant Level Lake” according to the realtor who sold us the house) with a Flood Policy. Yea for me! Rest of the day was pretty uneventful with the few exceptions of finding a snake in the dryer and valet-canoeing everyone to the boat and back. And that was Sunday.
Just another weekend at the lake.........
(Thanks to Doug, Diane, Tiffany, Ray, Christy, Scott, Stacy, Brandon, Garrett, Dylan, Ashley, Chuck, Troy, Bella and Brie for making this a weekend we won’t soon forget).
“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family:
Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.”
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