Earthquakes, and Hurricanes, and Tornadoes, oh my!

Completing the trifecta of natural disasters in the Philadelphia and suburban region for the week, in addition to Hurricane Irene, we were also under tornado warnings through the night on Saturday.  This following our brush with am earthquake on Tuesday.  But, as Jeff pointed out, "Ellen had NO trouble sleeping.". And, in fact, I did not.  I did everything I could to prepare for possible power outages and I was exhausted.  Among the preparations:

*Getting all FOUR of our flashlights ready as well as any, and all candles, including the favors still leftover from our wedding...five years ago.

*Running all our electrical appliances, washing dishes, and clothes in case we wouldn't be able to for Mayor Nutter's predicted two weeks

*Charging my phone non-stop.  It has a short battery life, so I figured if the power went out, then I would stop using it except for in an emergency, and it would have a fully charged battery.

*Filling up every possible water bottle, of ours and Cece's just in case clean water stopped running.

*Moving Cece's bed.  First, I pulled it across the room away from the window.  Then, I decided that she could roll out and find herself in any part of the room.  So, I turned her bed so that it was facing the closet and door.  This way, if anything fell in her room, a TREE for example, then it would brace on top of her bed and not strike her.  And, if she rolled out of bed, she would only have the space between her bed and the closet to get into.  Unless she wanted to be the most dangerously defiant child on the east coast and situate herself elsewhere in the room.  Which would be just my luck.  The only reports of deaths at that time were of children (if I understand correctly) being hit by trees in their houses.  It is completely possible that I misconstrued these stories and irrationally set up a feat of engineering genius (if I do say so myself) in my daughter's room.  Here's what I do know.  She made it through the night in one piece and I had peace of mind that she was far safer than her father and I in that daybed structure.  We do have beautiful, sheltering, huge, old trees, and any time there are strong winds, they can appear mugh more menacing.  The first floor worries about flooding, we worry about the trees.

*Bathing Cece, again as if it might be the last time for a while.

*Then deciding a post- Cece sleeping bath would not be a bad idea for myself at all either. So, I did.  When Jeff got home from work... Did I mention that Jeff had to work!?!  When Jeff got home from work, he asked if this was our bathtub full of drinking water.  Noooo.  I did NOT think of that.  But I was feeling relaxed and at peace.  Also, if there was a tornado, I'm pretty sure one of the places you're supposed to go is a bathtub, just probably not filled with water.  Technicalities.

*I also "saved" any activities that I could do just as well IF the power went out, like putting away all the laundry, and....well, that was about it.  Still waiting for the power to go out.

*In the meantime, while we had power, I made a dinner necessitating the oven and stovetop, because I could, and watched TV, because I could.

And, when the time came, I went to bed, because I could.  And slept quite well, because I could.  And when I woke up, the world wasn't all that different than it was the night before.  Some people are angry at this.  At all the hype of the weather reports.  I'm not angry.  I feel lucky that we haven't (yet, anyway) lost power.  That we didn't experience water damage in our home.  That a tree did not fall on our home, or car.  I feel lucky that, upon preliminary check anyway, most people I know can report the same.  Or that damage they have experienced, or power they did lose can be fixed, or will return.

I feel lucky to have felt prepared for the worst and surprised by the best.