Crazy heat wave; crazy summer storms

This weekend, we had crazy, crazy storms, that left a ton of people without power (still!) and downed trees, closed roads and generally made everything a wholesale mess.

Friday night, it rained so furiously, water was finding its way underneath our roof shingles, allowing rain to drip into our attic. The rain was coming in sideways so forcefully, it even pushed water into our basement -- through tiny, imperceptible cracks in a high wall.

We never lost power for long, and thank God we didn't, because this series of storms coincided with an unrelenting heat wave. It's been 100+ degrees here for the past several days. Since our AC still isn't fixed, we made do with borrowed window units that whirred loudly and cooled the air just enough for us to not be entirely miserable.

Other folks have not been so lucky. Stores have been closed for days because of lost power. Roads are closed. Some people are being told they won't get power back for a week or more! My boss said he and his wife were so desperate to get out of their dark, hot house yesterday, they actually went to see "Magic Mike" at the movies. If you knew my boss and his wife, you'd know how incredible that is -- and you'd understand, then, that we have surely come to the Apocalypse.

Last night, another thunderous storm barreled down on us, waking me from a semi-good sleep. I was worried about the roof, and the cracks in the basement wall. And I worried the children would be awakened by the racket. But my three slept through it all, peacefully, and aside from needing lots of water all day long, and sweating through their clothes at naptime, they seem completely unaware of the craziness going on around them.

What a tremendous gift, youth. Oblivious to the ramifications of leaky roofs, broken air conditioners, downed trees, oppressive heat waves and noisy storms, their lives are unaffected by the wrath of Mother Nature and the fallibility of modern technology. 

Shirtless, they played all weekend, read, laughed and loved -- and reminded Lester and me that none of what was going on was really all that bad.

We were safe. We were hot, but not miserable. We had all the things we really needed (food, water, a million books to read). And, most of all, we were together.