Coffee Before Crayons: Flood Update & Recap

Well, we’ve finally done it. We have made a decision on both flooring and cabinetry! Its starting to feel like we might actually move back home one day. One day in the not so distant future.As in, October. As in, 3 more months. We have made it 2.5 months so far and lived to tell about it so I really don’t think 3 more months of camper life is too high a price to pay for our dream home. Perhaps I should back track…

About 2.5 months ago we were forced out of our home by a flood. The “100 year rain” they called it. We got 3.5-4 FEET of water inside our home and even more in the garage. Praise God, we have a 2 story home and without going into the details (because I’m not at this to write a novel…) it’s because of that second story that our lives were spared that night. The wee-one slept through the whole ordeal, including us having to spend all night trying to convince the 70lb dog that, yes, he did need to stay upstairs despite what he had been taught previously. That’s a good dog, willing to go down into flood waters to obey the training he’s received. We ended up using the tie from my bathrobe as a makeshift leash because we couldn’t get into the water to try and locate a real one, the power was on the entire time so it was a major electrocution hazard. Just like making the dog stay upstairs, it was equally as challenging to keep the hubs from swimming for his beloved golf clubs. It took some convincing but he eventually accepted that his life is in fact worth more than even the best clubs, which his are. And in case you’re wondering, they cleaned up quite nicely despite a few rusty spots. We didn’t sleep much that night and had a couple homeless days where we lived like vagabonds bouncing from place to place until some very dear friends who might as well be family offered us their camper for as long as we need it. And to make it even better, Hubby’s aunt and uncle have a large piece of land where they board horses so we were offered a spot complete w/ RV hookups and we promptly accepted. It has been a blessing to live on this beautiful piece of property and to make it even better hubby’s cousin rents the trailer on the property and he was already keeping the pup for us. So we even have him right there with us. He won’t know what to do when we get back home and he has his very own space under the stairs and gets to live freely in air conditioning again.

As I long for the day when we return to our 2,300 sq ft homecomplete with plumbing that I don’t have to manually empty almost daily, I need to remember to focus on enjoying every day and not getting lost in the process of getting home… one thing that comes to mind is the beauty of our view, which is just stunning, that I actually get to wake up to every day, I’m really going to miss the lake and the horses and the pastures and AG’s little voice saying “eyes!” when I open the blinds and the sun hits her eyes. As I focus on enjoying this time I don’t want to miss out on the fact that the wee-one is turning into a big girl right before our very eyes. In this 29’ camper she has started putting words into sentences, clearly sharing her opinions and needs, and even trying to dress (and undress) herself, and she’s even enjoying using the potty even though we aren’t really trying to transition out of diapers yet. For the 4th of July we went to a pool party about 45 minutes away. I had told the wee-one earlier in the day that we would be going swimming later and kept mentioning this throughout the morning. When we were literally walking out the door she exclaimed “floatie!” and proceeded to run and got her floatie because she remembered that we were going swimming and that she isn’t allowed to swim without it. I am still so impressed that my not-quite-2-year-old did this.

I wrote all of that for a couple reasons. One – I want to remember the details and I know me, I have a terrible memory and if I don’t write it down I am bound to forget; and two – I want to never forget that despite the less than ideal living conditions, we are making memories that will last a lifetime. And regardless of where I lay my head at night, home is where my family is. We will be just fine so long as we are all together.