Damn You Mother Nature....

Basement

I'm back, sort of!

We were hit last week with a major flood in High River. I'm sure some of you are like "well ya, you live in HIGH RIVER!" We have a river, yes, but it is nowhere near our house. We woke up Thursday morning and James told me that his parent's basement was flooded and that he was going to head over to help get furniture out of their place and that they may be evacuated. I still thought nothing of it...nope, it's all good.
Then I noticed that people were walking down the street taking pictures of the field and the school. Hmmm...maybe something is going on?? Power gone now and no cell phone service. Knock at the door, a friend stopped by to tell me to get out and find another place to stay. Still, it didn't really kick in. I couldn't get a hold of James, I started pacing the house.

Should I get some things out of the basement? No, it'll be ok and I can't lift the heavy boxes. Still in denial. Then I hear a fireman over the bull horn telling us to get out and that we have been evacuated. Still thinking that this is silly. I go outside and ask the neighbours if they have a plan. Most weren't leaving. All I was thinking was that I needed a shower and maybe I should get ready.

James comes home and says that it's crazy down the street at his parent's house. The windows were smashing in and the whole basement was destroyed. I was having troubles comprehending that only 1 minute away, a neighbourhood was being swept away.

We grabbed some stuff and headed down the street in the other direction to Ange and Bob's house. All dry.
The RCMP show up and tell us that we must evacuate. WHAT??? No way!!! We are hungry and I guess in denial. We decide to BBQ and evaluate the situation then decide what we should be doing. I guess we needed to think about the kids and their safety.

Mom and dad didn't really give us a choice. We headed to the folk's house....9.5 of us!

The next day, we were watching the news, there was our place, under water. Are you kidding me?? We needed to get home and find out what was going on....assess the damage.
We hear that there is no access to High River...we will find a way!

We all headed back home and were stopped by the RCMP. Mom always taught us that you get farther with honey then you do with vinegar. We were sweet and nice and polite. The officer escorted us to our place and said that we had 20 minutes. Dad, James and I went in and headed straight to the basement. I could hear splash. Oh crap, oh crap! All of our stuff, oh crap, my wedding dress, all of our diapers and wipes and clothes for the new baby. Our fridge, our freezer, all of our food, all of our personal belongings in the garage. I felt so overwhelmed. I cried. I cried for all the hurt that I felt at that moment. I cried because I knew that this wasn't good. I cried just for myself. I felt sorry for me.

I knew that I couldn't pull the what if...what if we just moved stuff? What if we just unloaded some of our personal belongings from the basement? What if we just took some time to get our place ready for water? Nope, don't do what if...this is how it is. We moved nothing. Dad said to get moving and gather some stuff. I felt overwhelmed and only grabbed a few things because I'm sure we would return to our place in a few days. I only need a couple pairs of undies, maybe a shirt or two...

We left. I cried again.

James managed to get back to our place once more and he grabbed the wedding dress, my rings that don't fit, and some clothes for all of us. Don't forget my blood pressure machine, grab the Doppler, get undies, get Brinley some clothes as she has been wearing sleepers for almost a week. I feel so displaced.

My wedding dress :(

Dad spent over an hour in the rain, washing and spraying my dress outside. He did such a good job and managed to get a lot of the dirt and mud off of the dress. Bob and Ange offered to have it boxed and cleaned and to not worry about it. They would take care of it. There goes another 400 dollars to get the dress cleaned. :(

Emotionally, this has been a roller coaster ride. I know that our damage is minimal compared to others who have lost everything. I feel bad for so many. I feel bad for those who have to sleep at the rec centres, I feel bad for myself, I feel bad for the elderly, I feel bad for the pets that are stranded, I feel bad for those who died in the flood, I feel bad for those who live paycheck to paycheck and who can't afford any of the costs associated with the flood, I feel sorry for my parents who are housing all of us, I feel sorry.
I also feel disconnected from my husband and it makes me sad. I feel that our lives have been consumed with the flood and worrying about the costs, the damage and getting the house ready for Little Bean. At times, we are frustrated with each other and it's hard to voice kindly our concerns to each other, so it comes out harsh. I don't want that to happen. We need to be together and on the same page and support the decisions and the trials that await us.

I never really realized how much I took our little home for granted. I did. I miss my bed, my routine, my schedule and I miss sleeping in a room where I don't need to whisper in fear that I will wake the baby beside me. I also need for this baby to keep cooking. If she comes early, I will lose it.

My blood pressure is high right now. I will talk to my doctor and get a plan going. I need to make sure that I am healthy and that baby is healthy.

Lastly, we have been blessed with so many great friends. I have received so many texts, phone calls and messages sending love and support. You have no idea how much we appreciate your kindness. It keeps our spirits up.

My cousin sent me this for a laugh....beware, there are many swears. If you take offense easily, stop reading. :)

I Am Begging My Mother Not To Read This Blog and other tales from a twentysomething disaster.

Twelve Habits of Happy, Healthy People Who Don’t Give a Shit About Your Inner Peace

Every damn time someone in my facebook feed posts something like this, I click it. Every damn time.

We all have this facebook friend, right? People you genuinely love and admire. People you like hanging out with. People you invite to your birthday parties. You know. Actual friends. Until you’ve clicked links exactly like this again and again and again. For YEARS. And all of a sudden, you start to wonder if this is some elaborate hoax, if you’ve actually just been reading the same article over and over.
It’s not like I have anything against happiness, or success, or meditation, or yoga, or being nice, or smiling more, or eating healthy, or losing weight, or being your best you, or embracing the day with a positive attitude. Those all sound great. Honestly, they do. And there are some really smart, simple truths to be found in all of those articles. There truly are.
It’s just that I have a problem with being told to do all of those things by skinny blonde ladies laughing on a beach wearing yoga pants.
Don’t believe me? Take the challenge. Next time you read one of these articles, I dare you not to play Inspirational Photo Bingo:

Don’t believe me? Compiling these photos took LESS THAN FOUR MINUTES.












I can’t fucking remember the last time I pranced around a tropical island paradise waving a white scarf around my head as a professional photographer snapped a picture, but I bet if I did, I’d be a whole lot happier too.
Below please find my version of this article, that I want to share with you, the internet. May it bring you all the inner peace you can cram into your backpacking gear right before downward dogging it atop that mountain at sunrise.

1. Do whatever the fuck you want.
2. Do whatever the fuck you want.
3. Seriously, do you want that burger? Then just fucking eat a burger. Don’t be gross about it, and don’t eat a burger three meals a day. But I beg you, women and image-conscious male humans of the world, stop beating yourself up about it and just eat the fucking burger.
4. Do whatever the fuck you want.
5. Have good friends. Call them. Complain a little. That’s what friends are for. Return the favor. Don’t be a shitty friend.
6. Learn how to laugh about farts. Fart more. Laugh about it.
7. Be incessantly curious about the world around you! Experience art, science, beauty, and nature! But stop beating yourself up on those nights when you just want to sit your ass on the couch and watch reruns of Friends. 
8. Smile when you feel like smiling. Laugh whenever you fucking feel like laughing. Pro tip: Being told to ‘laugh more’ is not going to make you laugh more. Being told to ‘smile more’ is not going to make you smile more.
9. Make time for yourself. After you’ve run that 5K, started a load of laundry, harvested your organic vegetable garden, run to the bank, paid the bills, dazzled everyone with recipes that are cost-effective, healthy, and delicious, thought of something witty and clever to share with your social networking site, caught up on current events and politics, and cleaned all of the house, that special hour set aside just for you is so critical to your well-being.*
   10. Do whatever the fuck you want.
   11. Don’t care what other people think. Unless they’re right. In which case, fucking humble yourself enough to listen to them.
   12. Do. Whatever. The Fuck. You Want.

Do what you want. Be your damn self. Don’t be a terrible person. Be nice to others. Be supportive of your friends and allow yourself to give them the benefit of the doubt when they want to try something new, like rescuing shelter dogs, or making performance art in the nude, or dating terrible people. They’re your friends and you love them, and if they suck, stop being their friend. Show up for work. Pay your bills. Find some fucking purpose in your life, and figure out a way to share that purpose with others in a way that isn’t sanctimonious and doesn’t involve a picture of a woman laughing at an empty beach. Smile because something makes you smile. Laugh because you’ve surrounded yourself by people who make you laugh, and they’re funny fucking people, and you’re happy to be with them. Dance because you’re drunk at a big dance party with your friends and Michael Jackson is playing, not because ‘no one is watching.’ Everyone is watching. We’re at a fucking party. That’s how parties work.
Do whatever the fuck you want.
And the next time one of you has the kind of spare cash around to take a prancercise vacation to a tropical island, for the love of all that is holy please bring me with you. I am excellent at waving scarves around but even better at buying drinks with tiny umbrellas.


*And I don’t even HAVE KIDS! Or a husband! Or a boyfriend! I can’t even imagine how condescending that advice must feel to working moms. As someone who works all the time and can barely remember which day of the week the trash gets taken out: making time for yourself seems like one of the cruelest bits of advice of all. I’ll make plenty of time for myself. ONCE I FINISH ALL OF THE THINGS.