More Random Ramblings

Last week we had a really bad wind storm with gusts up to 60 MPH. It did a lot of damage through out the city. Trees blown down, things blown away.

They are building a new school just up the street from us, so they have scraped the land back to bare dirt. Thanks to that, the windstorm at our house was more like a sand storm with blowing dirt hitting your face like sandpaper. B and I had to rush out to the back yard to try to get the cover off of the gazebo before it was destroyed. He was up on the ladder trying to unfasten it and not be carried away by the wind. I was standing on solid ground trying to hold the gazebo down so it wouldn't blow away while we were at it.

I was standing on the base of the gazebo in one corner and the wind was literally lifting us both off the ground, it was pretty scary and gave me a small idea of what going through a hurricane or a tornado must feel like. The other bad part was that the humming bird feeder was directly over my head so that by the time we were done I was covered in red, sticky liquid....in my brand new shirt . I had it everywhere, in my hair, on my skin it was horrible and I couldn't even shower because the thunder and lightning were so bad. We lost power for about four hours as well.

I had sand everywhere as well. When I blew my nose it was like mud. My eyes were gritty and stinging, my ears were full of dirt. It was just bad. We sustained some minor damage to our house. Some missing shingles and others that had lifted and will need to be repaired.

One of our neighbors lost a fair amount of siding from the side of her house, and our back yard neighbors lost about a quarter of their shingles, they will have to re-shingle before winter.

The picture above was taken at the bottom of our street. The wind had taken this trampoline and lifted it right up over the fence and dropped it down into the road below. I took this picture the next morning and by then someone had moved it from out of the road over to the sidewalk. It obviously took a beating and is not salvageable.

Speaking of destroyed trampolines, the little monster that set ours on fire then moved away... I saw him on his bike the other day, apparently he is still living in the neighborhood about four blocks away. I am really disgusted that they have made no move to replace our trampoline, such fine and upstanding folks they are .


Premonitions

B and I watched Premonition last night (There will be spoilers below so if you don't want to know skip to the next section) and it really made me think a lot about people and the way we treat them.

If you had the knowledge that someone in your life would soon be gone, how differently would you treat them? Would you suddenly find it important to let them know how much they really mean to you? Would you be more kind to them, let them know that you love and care about them? Would you be more willing to let the little irritants slide and focus more on the positive aspects of that person?

I have had people in my life that I have known would soon be gone and the way I viewed them, and treated them changed drastically. I tried harder not to let little comments or actions annoy me because time was too short for bad feelings. I tried harder to communicate how much I loved them. My grandpa died of cancer and it was obvious we were running out of time. I made more effort to spend time with him. Never left his side without telling him I loved him. Was it enough? Did he really know that he was so very special to me? Who can really say, but I hope so.

Which now raises the question for me, why do we have to wait? Why can't we make an effort TODAY to tell someone how much they mean to us, to try harder to let the petty things slide and focus more on the good in that person. Why does it take the potential end of a life to change our interaction with someone?

In the movie there was so much apathy between the husband and the wife. They had settled into a rut where both believed there was very little emotion. Like Sandra Bullock's character said "We were room mates with two little girls". Why do we do this? We get lazy, let things slide and pretty soon you are two strangers sharing a hallway, barely speaking or communicating with each other. Relationships take work, they take an investment of time and energy. Why do we give up? Why do we get lazy? Isn't our relationships with people we love the main goal in this life? It isn't money, it isn't possessions, it is building lasting relationships, that is our whole purpose on this earth. Yet it is the one thing we usually give up on sooner or later.

Our desires for "Things" gradually replaces our desire to enrich and strengthen our relationships and in the end, things really aren't worth much. Look at the people who lost everything in Louisiana. When it gets right down to it, loosing your house and your possessions hurts, but they can be replaced. The most important thing is your family, as long as your family is ok, then your world can go on turning.

Sometimes I think we need a reality check, a smack in the face, a reminder of what is truly the most important thing. It isn't the new...whatever, it is the old, established relationships, the new relationships to be formed. People, it's all about people.


Rocks Rocks Rocks, I love Rocks!

This has long been PF's favorite book. I must have read it to him a million and three times. It is a story about a little girl who loves rocks, it is a poem, a rhyme about all the things rocks can do.

They make castles, they make caves, they make churches, they make graves.

Some float, some sink, some are slimy, some STINK!

I could probably quote this book beginning to end I have read it so many times, and now that my son has become a pretty proficient reader, he reads it constantly to himself now.

He chose this book to write his book report on last night. He had to draw his own cover for the book, the tell about what happened in the beginning, the middle, and the end.

If I had been asked to give this book report I would have said...

This book is about a little girl who loves rocks. She travels all over from forests, to lakes, to towns and talks about all the many things that rocks are used for. She talks about the different ways that rocks appear, some are smooth, some are rough, some are dark, some are white. And ends with her cheerful declaration of how much she loves rocks.

My son's book report went something like this...

This book is about a girl who loves rocks, and her dog. Her dog is always getting into trouble and doing silly things. He hides under rocks and falls into the water, the girl is always trying to get him out of trouble and then they go home.

I had to literally go and get the book out and look at it, and this shows a wonderful side of my son. While I am content to accept the surface layer of my world, he is looking deeper, examining his surroundings and seeing what lies beneath the surface. He lives in a deeper, richer world than I do. I saw a book about rocks, he saw a book about a silly goofy animal who explores his world and gets into hot spots, but is always rescued by the little girl who loves him. I like his book report much better than mine.