T'was a Dark and Stormy Night

 

Happy New Year (almost)!

 

Well, I don’t know if you’ve ever read the short story by James Thurber called, “The Night the Bed Fell”, but we had a similar event last week.

 

First came Christmas Dinner at Nathan & Kylie’s place (since it’s big enough to accommodate all of us). It was a huge feast, enjoyed by most all our Aussie relatives, and a couple of friends to boot. There was enough food to feed a small army, which is good, because the next day …

 

… we moved camp with the gang (about 15 or so of us) over to our house for a ‘leftover meal’, showcasing several new dishes and uncountable desserts.

 

Finally, most of them went to their separate homes, and by God’s Grace managed to get safely inside before a major storm hit the Gold Coast later that night. Tragically, it was killer, rather like the kind of tornadoes we get in America’s Midwest, but covering hundreds of square miles and lasting most of the night. Our own house missed most of the damaging wide and rain, but the next morning’s news looked like pictures from a war zone. Chris and Nicki were planning to stay at our house for a few days anyway, which was a good thing since travel back to Brisbane would have been decidedly dangerous. Nathan and Kylie escaped a lot of the destruction their neighbours woke up to, but the whole community was totally blacked out, with no hope of restoring power for several days. They say 100,000 homes are without power, still many of those after 6 days.

 

Unknown to us, as we’d only had a small ‘event’, we woke up the 26th and were musing that we might ‘pop to the shops’ and see what kind of “Boxing Day specials” might be available, as we’ve never taken the time to visit these sales.   But just  as we were stepping out the door, the phone rang.  

 

The kids had no power (keep in mind it’s summer here with temperatures pushing close to the 100-degree mark). And to add to the challenge, Kylie’s relatives discovered that returning to the home down south was considered “unadvisable” for the foreseeable future.

 

“Oh sure, come on over,” we said. “The kids can swim, and we’ll eat (more) leftovers!”

 

My son-in-law, also trapped at our place, was looking at his phone and mumbled, “Bring pyjamas”.

 

An hour later, they arrived in three cars, unpeeling themselves like the refugees they were. We watched in awe as they unloaded the family dog, the newly-acquired family parrot, and their refrigerator, filled to the brim with … more leftovers! Add that to the already in-residence other dog as well as a 2 yr old grandchild.

 

That was the beginning of a Christmas that we’ll not soon forget.  I never got an accurate count of how many people were sleeping under our roof, but you had to watch your feet at night, lest you step on someone’s face. …they seemed to start in one place and end up in another. Fortunately, Kylie’s folks felt it was safe and could get back on the road sooner. I don’t think they were unhappy to leave.

 

For 4 nights and 5 days we had an absolute ball!  All the rules were off the table as we were in ‘disaster’ mode.  That meant non-stop movies, games and swimming, and of course non-stop eating. Eventually, roads were re-opened and power, at least at Nathan’s, restored, allowing everyone to give out one last “Merry Christmas!” before packing up and heading home.

 

This morning the last ones left. I looked at Tony. He looked at me, we both looked around………. and went to bed.

 

As we said our goodbyes, we all insisted that we must ‘do this again’, but I’m not sure we could ever replicate it.  As they say in the commercials, “Some things money can’t buy!”

 

Isn’t God great to give us ‘excuses’ to be happy?  We said over and over how fortunate we were to be safe and dry.  Enough shops were able to be opened with generators.  Most of all, we were all healthy, and thanking God for watching over us. I don’t think it’s every family that can be so close and just grow closer together!  

 

Then last night, our daughter saw the elephant in the room, commented on the fact that everyone, even though we felt okay enough, just couldn’t stop sneezing and coughing. Quietly slipping out to a newly re-opened pharmacy, she picked up a kit, and you guessed it. She announced to everyone by phone and text, “either I’m pregnant, or I have CoVid! None of the rest of us have tested, because we don’t want to know!

 

Maybe this is God’s way of forcing us to take a couple of days to recuperate. 

 

Happy New Year! If Christmas is any indicator, this should be the best ever!!

 

Marsha