Filling in the Blanks...

So...this morning I wrote a hurried post in the computer lab on campus just before my final statistics class. A lot of things had happened within a very short time, and I was seriously shaken by everything I'd gone through just to get to school.

Anyway...I have returned to finish the story that I neglected to tell all of you the beginning or the end of.

I woke up earlier than usual for a school day today. I needed to get to campus early so I could take the final exam for my Communication Theory class and still be able to get to my last Statistics class on time. I lay in bed, after hitting the "Snooze" button a few times, and I heard what sounded like an airplane's engine pounding the house outside. I got up, and tried to look out of the window to see what was going on, but it was too dark.

I took a shower, and as I showered, I heard the wind getting worse and worse. I heard the sounds of people's garbage bins getting knocked over. I heard creaking and banging and the constant, horrific whooshing and booming of a violent, terrifying wind storm.

I got out of the shower, and sat listening to the wind for a few minutes. I actually cowered against the bathroom door for a moment, as I feared that the window might not hold up against the fury of Mother Nature. I had serious doubts about making the trip to campus, but I had to go. It was very early in the morning, and none of the day's classes had been canceled. I checked, multiple times. No word. So I got AJ out of bed, and got her ready to go to my mom's house. Ty was supposed to go to work later, so he would take CT to school after I left.

Just driving the half mile to my mom's house was scary. I was driving through a mess of roof shingles and pieces of house siding flying through the air. People's fences were knocked over, and of course it was garbage day, so people's trash was flying all over the road. I got to mom's house, and as I grabbed AJ and half ran toward the front door, clutching her close to me and sheilding her face against my shoulder from the wind, my mom opened the door for us. "You decided to try it today, huh?" Mom said as she helped me inside. I explained to her that I would gladly stay home if I could, but I had to go to Statistics. We were giving our final presentations today, worth 8% of our final grade.

Anyway, with many encouragements from my worried parents to be extremely careful and a big hug from my daughter, I set out for campus. The drive was crazy, I was fighting against the wind the whole time.

There was debris sailing through the air all around me. Road signs were torn from their posts. There was actually a trampoline, all of its framing twisted and bent, crumpled at the side of the highway. Police cars were everywhere, their lights on, driving to different accidents that were happening all over the place. I have no idea how I did it unscathed, but I finally got to school.

I found a decent parking spot, (though it was still a pretty long walk to the building I was trying to reach), then I took a deep breath and headed out. It was all I could do to keep my feet beneath me as I struggled across campus. The wind was at my back, pushing me forward and sideways, hard. I took shelter between buildings as often as I could, but it was tough going.

I finally got to the building I needed to be in, and headed down to the basement, where the testing center is. I studied for a few minutes, then took my final Communication Theory test. I don't think it was my best work, though. I was still recovering from the ordeal of getting there. My arms and legs felt shaky and weak. Apparently walking in hurricane force winds takes a lot out of you. It's a full body workout fighting for your life against Mother Nature. Anyway, I got through the test (it was 4 essay questions, so I won't know what my grade is until my teacher reads through them all and gives me a score.)

I still had about 30 minutes before my Statistics class was supposed to start, so I went upstairs to the Psychology department and tried to call my husband. He was extremely worried about me going out in that horrible weather, but I insisted on going. I wanted to give him some reassurances about my safe arrival at school, but I had zero cell reception from the moment I got there until after my test was over. I had to turn the phone off and then try dialing three times just to get a call through to Ty.

He answered: "Well, look who's alive." Apparently he'd been trying to call me, and because I was outside of reception, he had just been getting my voicemail. He explained to me that CT's school was canceled and he was with his little sister at my parents' house. He encouraged me to be very careful when I decided to come home, and then I let him go so he could get ready for work.

That was when the text messages started. The University actually sent messages to the entire student body warning them to stay inside, wherever they were on campus. I heard reports from other students of massive tree branches coming within inches of hitting people, and windows in the upper windows of the buildings shattering and raining glass all over the sidewalk. It was at this point that I went to the computer lab and wrote my earlier blog post. Since class still wasn't canceled, I printed off my presentation and when it was time, I headed to class.

Once we were all in class, my professor came in and started talking to us. Here's the real kicker of the day: "Well, I can see that there are some people missing today, but I won't penalize them because of the weather. We'll just report on what we have, and I'll e-mail everyone else." Really? REALLY? I drove through hell to get to class so I could get a decent grade on this report and now I find out that I could have just stayed in bed? Ugh. Needless to say, I was not happy.

Then, as we started the discussion, I get a text message from the University saying that all classes were canceled until 4:30 pm. Of course they were. My professor heard about this, and said: "Well, we're already here, so let's just finish this up." Sigh.

Anyway, we got through the reports, and once class was over I decided that I was going to try to get home. I zipped up my coat, put up my hood and tied it tightly around my head and face so I could stay as protected from the wind as possible. Then I headed out the door into nature's fury.

This walk was even worse than the first. It was entirely uphill, and I was walking against the wind this time. I had to tell myself constantly to keep going, thinking of my kids and my nice, warm house. I finally reached my car and scrambled to get into it and out of the wind. I sat there for a moment, gasping and gulping for air. My lungs were on fire. I tasted blood in my mouth. I've been coughing ever since.

Once I'd sufficiently caught my breath, I started the car, turned on the heater and my music, and headed home. The drive was slow, all of the signal lights were out, so we had to do the 4-way stop thing at every intersection.

As I drove home, I had to fight hard to keep my car from being blown off the road. I saw a lot of destruction. The damage that I'd seen on the way to campus, was even worse on the way home. More street signs had been blown away, their empty posts just twisted pieces of jagged metal. I saw at least two semi trucks toppled over on their sides. Police cars were still everywhere, trying to respond to the many accidents, and keep everyone else from adding to the casualties. I saw the aftermath of a really horrible car accident. The trampoline that had been on one side of the road as I headed up to campus had actually been blown across the highway to the exact opposite side of the highway.

I finally got to my neighborhood, and I felt my eyes stinging with tears as I saw all of the old, huge trees that had been there for decades lying on their sides, ripped up by the roots. People's houses had been torn apart, shingles and siding littering the roads and lawns.

However, the winds were calming down at this point, so people had started to emerge from their houses to clean up the mess that Mother Nature had left in the wake of her temper tantrum. I got to my parents house, and as I pulled into the driveway and turned off the car, I suddenly realized just how tense I had been for the last four hours. Relief flooded through me, but the sudden shift of emotion made me very physically weak. I was shaking as I walked into the house.

I sat down, and my mom gave me some lunch as I tried to recover. I talked about the horror show that I had seen on the way home, and mom told me about everything that had been happening at home. After lunch, I gathered up the kids and took them back to our house. I fed AJ a snack, and then got her down for a nap.

It literally took me hours to start feeling somewhat normal again. I was weak and shaky for a long time, my body just wanted to shut itself down entirely for a while. Ty came home from work early. The power was out at the store where he works, and he wanted to come and see what damage the storm had done to our house. He then went outside to clean up the mess.

We were very, very lucky compared to a lot of people in our neighborhood. Our backyard fences were all knocked down, we lost quite a few roof shingles, and our mailbox got pretty battered, but overall we didn't fare too badly.

Things are much calmer now. The kids are in bed, and Ty and I have the TV going on in the background as we work on our laptops on various projects.

I'm still feeling sore and exhausted, my arms are still a little weak, but I'm so grateful to have been one of the fortunate people who braved such a storm and got home safely.

Anyway, tomorrow is another day. CT's school has been canceled again due to all of the damage that the storm caused today. Ty will more than likely be working, but I plan to get some sleep, as much as I possibly can.

Lesson of the Day: Don't piss off Mother Nature. You'll lose.

Good night!