Of Family & Funnel Clouds

Dear John,

 

A lot has happened since I was able to write. Let me see if I can get it in chronological order and condense it a bit.

 

I wrote last on Friday afternoon. The reason I wrote early was that we had a surprise planned for your mother Friday night. Lesa and Anna drove down from Springfield, and Chris, Heather, and the girls drove over from New Orleans, to stay for the weekend. This was a much bigger birthday party than she knew! We had all of the first generation and almost half of the second and third, so we did well. And everybody kept the surprise.

 

I gave Lesa and Anna my room, and slept on the living room couch during the time that I slept. Heather and I sat up and talked until your mother came out at midnight and made us go to bed, which was a good thing since we would probably have talked until dawn. I was up at 5:30 doing morning prayers on the balcony, when I saw Heather and Katie going down the back steps to the beach. Everybody gradually assembled for breakfast and football. I got some time with Anna, Heather, and the girls, and watched Ohio State with Chris. So I got lots of aunt time! It was so much fun! Maybe next time we can get Mike and Laura, Jimmy, and Jake and Kierstan, too.

 

I had to leave at noon for the airport. I flew out of Panama City to Atlanta, had a one-hour layover to get from Concourse A to F then took a completely full plane to Columbus. I'd planned to spend Saturday night at your mother's house and drive home on Sunday. But I looked ahead at the weather report, and decided to drive through the night. I had a good trip home - ate at Skyline in Troy, got good radio all the way, and was home by 1:30 AM and in bed by 3:30. And today's weather justified it.

 

A front came through with the perfect conditions for ugliness. Through Illinois, Indiana, and southern Michigan we had warnings for high wind, severe storms, and tornadoes. There were a number of tornadoes, and straight-line winds up to 86 mph. The storms left a mess in their wake, but no fatalities so far. We have several trees down on the block. And somebody's siding is on our yard - or two somebodies, since the two pieces are different colors. I think one is from Adam's house, and the tan piece could be from half of the houses on the street. All we had was the glider blown over, and that I expected. Early this morning I brought in all the patio furniture and the planters. I got off very easy, and I'm thankful. We did lose power for a couple of hours. It was dark, so I went on to bed. Then the power came back so I got up for a while to talk to you. I'm off to bed again very soon.

 

I'm sorry Jethro wasn't at home today, but glad he was at the vet. June always comes over when there's a storm and stays with the animals. This being Sunday, Jim and the kids may well have come, too. So the dog was well-looked after. I'll pick him up in the morning. The cats were fine while the storm was coming through - they slept on the bed all the time. Nobody can accuse cats of over-reacting. But since the line of storms moved out they've been velcroed to me, and very uneasy. It must be the rapid drop in the barometer. Which, by the way, will probably catch up with me tomorrow.

 

Topeka after the storms moved through

I did get laundry done today, with a two-hour intermission for the power outage. The plan is to dust and vacuum tomorrow. But I'll have to see how hard the storm hits the fibro. Nobody will die if it waits a couple of days. Tuesday I'll go back to work, which will be a nightmare with two weeks of work piled up and waiting for me. I hope it's been a slow two weeks.

 

To sum up: I had a lovely time in Florida - I enjoyed the time with family and the time on the beach. I feel much better for it, physically and emotionally. It seems that I was ready for a vacation. That's not surprising, since it's been five years since I had one. And I'm always ready for the sea. Becky and I have decided that we need to live in an lighthouse in Ireland.

 

Seems I've done lots of new things without you in the last few days. All of them would have been lots more fun with you. But I did have fun, I did enjoy all of it. And that's progress, isn't it? I know it makes you happy. And I love to make you happy.

 

Adore you,

Joan.