The Storm*

I’m currently sitting cross legged on my couch, nursing a cup of hot chocolate while I bask in the glow of my inexpensive IKEA lamps.

My living room is a mess of toys and shoes, and there’s remnants of someone’s snack mashed into the carpet.

I’d like to say the kids are all tucked in and fast asleep upstairs, but I just heard P open the door so clearly sleep is not happening yet. Whatever. If I pretend I didn’t hear the door open he might just slink back in and go to bed. (A mom can dream, right?)

Despite the mess and the crumbs and the shoes and the still awake children, we are all safe, full, and still have power. We had quite a little storm here in Ontario today. We missed the worst of it where we live, but we still caught an intense burst of rain and wind around 5:30. I decided to make homemade pizzas for dinner, so I had just slaved over making the dough and the intense workout of chopping peppers when it hit.

(By slaved over I clearly mean I mixed the dough together, kneaded it for like a minute, then let it rise. Super hard work.)

P was all kinds of hangry and whiny by the time I got the pizzas in the oven, so I prayed the twenty minute cooking time would pass quickly. Within a minute of putting the pizzas in the oven, our power started to flicker. I have big glass patio doors in my kitchen, and as I glanced outside I saw the winds pick up really quickly out of no where. I ran upstairs to get a better view, and as I watched out my bedroom window it was like the sky exploded with rain and hail. I’ve never seen a burst of weather come on like that. The wind was so intense I was worried the trees in my neighbours yard might come down, but we were lucky.

And then four minutes later, it passed. The sun came back out and it was like nothing happened.

Our power flickered two or three more times, but we were lucky not to lose it. I’m fairly certain that the desperate prayers I was sending upward helped in that regard–if the power had gone out before the pizzas had finished I’m not sure I could have contained P. When he is “hangry” he is like a mini-hulk and you need to get food in him quickly to make it stop.

M checked online, and we realized that we were in a teeny little pocket in our neighbourhood that somehow managed to keep power. It’s out all around us and has been for hours. I went online to check the Facebook group for our area I told you about, and the whole page is filled with pictures of downed trees on yards, cars, streets and houses. Several roads nearby are closed due to fallen trees, and I lost track of the number of people asking for help clearing enormous tree trunks and branches off their vehicles, driveways and roofs.

I then saw the news that tornadoes touched down near Ottawa and in Quebec, and it looks like there was so much damage. The videos and pictures I’ve been obsessively checking all night are wild.

It all just made me feel very grateful that despite the mess and the crumbs in my carpet, I can sit here and write with my lights on, and not have to worry about damages outside. I hope you’re all safe where you are, and that the storm didn’t cause too much damage.

Looks like my strategy worked–all is quiet upstairs and the kids are now actually sleep. My turn. :)