A Stormy Week

Last weekend was set to be an exciting one. Two of my best friends (who happen to be sisters) and my dear little sister were coming for a visit. And also to attend a concert about an hour down the road in Bluefield. We were excited to see FSR, Lee Brice, someone I can't remember, and Eric Church. Clearly male country singers are not my strong suit as they are all easily confused in my brain.

We pre-gamed with a little KFC in the 100 degree heat in our cowboy boots and were primed for some country music in West by god Virginia (that's the only appropriate way to state that you are in such a state).

This is us, primed

My saintly husband for taking all of us ladies, rarely are we this photogenic.

Two acts into our long awaited concert and the annoying radio personalities on stage announce that everyone must evacuate.....just after my clueless lovely sister decided she was going to leave the group in search of pizza. Again, my dear husband saved the day and found her, crisis averted. Sort of.

For a large group of drunk people, everyone remained very calm as we made our way to the single exit. I suppose the alcohol mellowed everyone out and no one noticed the small children and dogs that were flying in the air past us as the wind picked up.

We decided we would bail out rather than waiting to see if they allowed everyone back in and headed back to my favorite Virginia, the original. Little did we know we were driving into the worst of the storm. Unfortunately this is what my house guests and I ran up on (literally we had to leave our car at the end of my road).

Of course these were taken the next day. And these are just the ones in our yard. We slept that night with all windows open, no a/c and no power. So much for our intentions of going out in Blacksburg once we got home. We were in damage control mode and let me tell you, that's my least favorite mode to be in. I panic. I have a vague memory that night of sitting on the toilet peeing and crying about my dog being safe and my sister sitting in the floor attempting to comfort me. That goes on the list of low points in my life.

Positive outcomes from the night: my dog was safe that's number one, no damage to our house, no damage to Kristan's car, and a sense of community as neighbors came together to get trees out of the road.

Negatives: 6 days later and still no power for 5,000 people in our county, 100 degree heat almost every day since then, not having been home in almost a week

I love my family but I'm so homesick I can't stand it. I've been away for longer times than this but something about this time has me missing our routine. That and the fact that I'm leaving again on Sunday for another week (granted it is to the beach) but I will still miss my house and hubby and dog. I hope I don't sound too selfish, I'm so grateful that we had a place to come and stay and that no one was hurt but I want to go home.

Okay, whining over. Please remember those in our county and surrounding counties who are still without power but had no place to go. I have worried sick about some of our elderly neighbors. Keep cool everyone and beware of summer weather. Who knew power outages would be worse in summer than winter? Well, I know it now.

P.S. We got an e-mail this week that they were rescheduling the concert, that Eric Church he's a stand up guy....whoever he is. Just kidding, I know he sings smoke a little smoke. Right?