Displaced

So we got home Saturday night after a harrowing drive back from a fun St. Pat's day dinner at St. Clement's Castle in Portland, CT courtesy of the senior Sloans to find a police car blocking both ends of our road and to find out we had no power. Had the advantage of my mini electric battery pack for my sleep machine that night, but woke up to still no power Sunday morning. We had no idea how extensive the damage was to that point. Sunday morning, while going for coffee and bagels I got a chance to see how surreal it was and got a chance to see, up close and personal, the massive tree that had fallen and taken out the power lines on the road. At Sue's urging I made a reservation at a hotel early on Sunday, and was lucky to get it as by noon on Sunday all the hotels were sold out as far north as Fairfield.

We spent the next three nights in the hotel and that gave me pause to think how displaced and out of sorts I felt, even though the hotel room was very comfortable, had internet access, a hi def large, flat screen TV, microwave, fridge, heat, AC, comfortable bed and nice shower. It made me feel fortunate to be experiencing this inconvenience (and that's all it turned out to be) where in a few days all was back up to speed, we were all healthy, no damage had been done to the house, save one large fence gate pulled out of the ground, and the cats were able to stay at home as the coldest the house ever got was 56 degrees, chilly, I'll admit, but by no means dangerous.

My heart really goes out to the folks in New Orleans who years later are still living in FEMA trailers, some of whom, (maybe many of whom) will never see their homes or possessions again. Next time you complain about something, put it in the perspective of the larger picture and, if you are like we were, feel lucky that a small blip on the radar is exactly that, a small blip on the radar. (and yes, I am looking into a generator as soon as things settle down a bit :)

Onwards and Upwards!!

Parenting...

You don't need a license to be a parent. There certainly are no pre requisites, The time is never right, there are always other things to do. Over the years you may shake your head and wonder what you were thinking. You may wonder how you can have learned so little from your own growing up or how you thought you knew so much and find out how little and how under prepared you really are/were for all that comes with this most important  of things.

Then there are those moments that stand out as magic. Sometimes they are small, like a little card, or a flower when least expected, or a trip to see you in a hospital when you know they've had incredibly long days themselves and you know you are not at your best and certainly not a glib conversationalist. Or a comment attached to a posted picture that says something like "I'm sure we took this yesterday" when, in fact, it was near three decades earlier. Or maybe just a call on the run to check in, when you, yourself (the parent) have not done that to them in what seems like forever. Or the pride they have in themselves for surprising themselves on a recent effort, or a promotion, or finishing 13.1 miles after only a very short time training. Maybe it's just a smile, maybe it's just knowing they're there.

Being a parent is an unbalanced scale, but I would not have given up any of the difficulties if with that I would have had to give up even one of those other moments. It's been a great few days!!