Camp Carr-diac

What a week!!!
(there's a tree on our fence)

Thankfully we are all home, now, safe and sound.

It all started with Jack having a bit of a heart attack and then a trip to

the ER. They didn't move as fast as they

do on the TV show, but he got great care, and was (after a good

long time and about 12 EKG's) admitted.

After I got him all comfy, I left him to come home and take

care of stuff here.  His friend had come to visit, so he

was not alone.

My car said it was 104 degrees.

Once I got home, and notified a few people, it started to get a 

little dark, and the wind started blowing and blowing and blowing. 

The rest was on the news. 

Thankfully, it had cooled down so we (me and Barney
and Daisy) 

were able to sleep comfortably that night.  I can't remember
the last time I slept with the windows open.  I

ventured out early the next morning to find coffee.  There was one small area

in our city with power, and I found coffee there.  A lot

of people were carting out bags of ice.  Was somebody having

a party????

It had been a while since I had seen gas lines, and it

took me a minute to realize that's what they were--blocks long and

two cars deep.  That lasted for quite a while (days). 

Where was everybody going?

Fortunately, my mom got

power that evening (Saturday).  I had stopped on my

way back from the hospital to check on her

and it came on as soon as I walked in the door. I heard the
micro wave talking (power is on), and I said,
what's that?  and my mom said, it's the micro-wave and I
said, no, you have power!!!!!!!!!
It was all I could do to keep from dancing.  She is
86 and I was so afraid for her in the heat.  I probably
would have packed her up to sleep at the hospital
with Jack if it it had not come on.

 Had I not been there,

she would have had no way to let me know that she had power, and the dogs and I would

had suffered through a very long night.

I tried to tough it out at home, but Barney and Daisy were

panting and pleading.  I loaded them

in the car and showed up on my mom's door step and christened her

house "Hotel Weezy".

Barney made a beeline for the sofa and sighed with relief.

Once I knew they would settle in, I went back home to

get some stuff.  No street lights and no stop lights and no problems.

We all just took our turns.  Who would have thought?

I went back out later to Walmart so we wouldn't starve.  I could

tell on my many trips past it

that it had power and was going to open soon.  The

first time around, it was not open, but people were waiting at the door

because they had nothing better to do and needed diapers.

Luckily, the hotel hospital, where Jack

was recuping and waiting for heart cath (not till

Monday) had power restored pretty quickly, but he never did have cable.  His phone worked and

I dubbed his room "Command Central" because

if you could get a cell phone signal, you could always call Jack. 

He patrolled the halls wearing a heart monitor, a gown and

his shorts.  Captain Carr.

Over time, you could see power slowly being restored.  They
had to move him to Hotel St. Joe Hospital for the
heart cath, which went well.

They put in two stents
and he is better than new and has a
cute little bikini wax to prove it.  They pretty much
followed him all over the hospital
with an electric razor.  That evening
we got power back.  He came home the next day.

I have an overwhelming feeling of gratitude.
Grateful that Jack keeps gas in the cars and cash in
the house (the cafeteria at the hospital
could not process credit or debit cards the first day or so
of the crisis).  Grateful for my wonderful
neighbors, who sweat it out and helped
me with the dogs, the garage door, some food,
and company.  Grateful for my sister, who
came to help with my mom in the aftermath.
Grateful that there was no damage to our home.

Grateful they were able to fix the damage to Jack's arteries.
I know people who pray a lot and
probably prayed me through this.
I did not.  Not because I don't believe,
but because I had this quiet confidence (Isaiah 30:15) that
God was with me, orchestrating, guiding, while
I just followed along whispering thank you, thank you, thank you.

Amen.