I have so much to talk about

Friday. August 26th
The calm before the storm. It was a beautiful day. Went to work and later that evening my choir had to sing at Quioccasin Baptist. Steve went with me. Saw Miss Mary Lee. She is the mother-in-law of my best friend Betty Reid. Was so glad to see her. She looked like she was getting younger. She turned eighty on August 16th. She looked so good. We stopped at dad's after church. Checked to make sure he had battery operated radio and lights before the impending storm. Went home and watched TV. Went to bed.

Saturday August 27th
Got up early. Went to Walmart to pick up a few things. Went to Dollar tree and got some batteries for my tap light. I charged up the cell phones, portable DVD player, portable TV, camcorder and I popped a BIG bowl of popcorn in case the lights went out and I got a craving. Well the rain and wind started. And boy was it scary. Mid way thru the storm at the height of the wind and rain, we found out our cell phones won't working. My worst nightmare. I can't communicate with the outside world. Especially my dad. Texts were coming intermittently so I texted my sons And asked them to call dad and tell him my phone was out. THEY COULDN'T CONTACT HIM!!! I am worrying by now. Steve is standing looking out the front door and tells me he sees daddy coming. I said "daddy" in shock. The storm was crazy by then. My worst fear was something had happened to his house. He struggles against the wind. Umbrella turns inside out and he finally gets inside.
He had panicked because he couldn't get in touch with us. I told him our phones were out and he turned and left. Now that we look back, he said he don't know why he Left so fast and I don't know why I didn't take him back home because then I worried about him. So later on, Steve and I braced ourselves against the elements and went over to check on him. I was shocked as we came down the lane bedside his house. A large branch had broke from his tree, pulled the power line down across his cars, and pulled the power meter and the pipe that held his power lines off the side of the house. But he still had current. Needless to say he was shocked to see us. We stayed a couple of hours then went home. We watched a movie. Went to bed.

Sunday August 28th
Kept watching the news regarding church closings. As I was about to put my pants on, I saw that Mt Olive was closed. So I put my jeans on and went over to check on daddy. He was still in the bed. Went to see if there was damaged at my church. No lights. Talked to Babysis. Found out my phone works away from the house. Stevie told me the towers lost power. Generators eventually were hooked up to the towers. We eventually could get service at our home by Wednesday. Went home and cooked pancakes. Took some to my neighbor across the street who had no lights. Found out that other than our neighbor on the right, no one had lights on our street or on the half of the neighborhood that faced our house. The neighbors behind us had lights. WOW. We were lucky. Went back to dads and took him pancakes. Hung out over there the rest of the day. Daynon and his family came by. They had not had lights since Saturday. Went home. Watched TV. Went to bed.

Monday.
Went to work. Everyone telling their storm stories. My neighbors nor Daynon have lights.

Tuesday.
Went to work. Gave blood. Got a free Chik Fil A coupon. Met Daynon there for lunch. He and Lynette still no lights. They Came over and bathed Kennedy. I threw something together for them to eat. They left and went home to the dark after they figured Kennedy was exhausted. Tried to convince them to stay but you know what they say " there's no place like home". Stevie and Linda faired well. No power outages. A few trees fell in the wooded area around them. Stevie's store lost power and they were without the internet for a few days at the store.

Wednesday
Daynon and my neighbors still no lights and dad has not seen VA Power. I guess Daynon and Lynette had enough of the dark. Daynon took Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off. After he ran errands, he and Kennedy came over. We went over to dad's so he could see Kennedy. Hung out there for a bit. Daynon and Kennedy left before we did they headed home. The stayed at a hotel and had a mini vacation.



Thursday--Sept 1st
Daynon and my neighbors have no lights. They stayed with Stevie and Linda this time. Daynon becoming real frustrated with Dominion Powers restoration time. It keeps changing. Oh yeah and my dad's power line still down. My cousin Babysis has been having some asthma related problems so pray for her.

Friday ---Sept 2nd
Good news, bad news. Daynon and Lynette have lights. Dominion finally came to see dad. But they told him an electrician needs to come fix the meter and until then, they took the line up and turned his power off. ON A FRIDAY AFTERNOON BEFORE A HOLIDAY. Well in spite of that, God is good. We found an electrician. He came out around six thirty and fixed the problem tor a $125.00 per hour. Good Lord. Thank God for insurance. Called Dominion. They did not come back today. So Steve and brought a battery TV and lights for dad so he was good to go. I took all his stuff in the fridge to my house. There wasn't a lot. When it got almost dark, we left and went to Walmart and then home. Oh yeah, Daynon and Stevie went to Busch Gardens today. They also went to G-Force Race Track. Sounds like they had a great day.

Boy what a week it has been. Along with the storm and earthquake after shocks. Everyone needs to be on their knees. Hope you all made it safely thru the week. Any material things can be replaced but you can not replace a life.