Missing Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day weekend was prefaced by a flood. I’ve written a little about that but have yet to tell of some of the personal experiences associated with it. That Saturday Kris and I were completely oblivious to the horror that was going on around us. We had talked about the weather a bit on Friday and even joked about the danger of flash flooding. Not that flooding is a joke, but we see that warning often and it usually means some remote area will have a big puddle in a hay field. As we weren’t planning to cross any creeks and being situated on a hill such as we are, it is completely out of the realm of possibility for us to worry about flooding. It was raining a lot but it didn’t seem to be anything more than a typical rainy spring weekend. In fact the only thing we were concerned about were the tornado watches and warnings that were popping up in the area. We played quietly with the boys, kept music on low in order to be sure that we could hear the tornado siren. At one point we did hear the siren and moved the boys to the little alcove between the dining room and living room where we played more games and talked about anything except the weather. They had fun and were unaware of anything other than “game day.” Kris watched the radar and ran an errand to the bank on Saturday during the only 30 minutes or so that it was supposed to let up a bit. He did not have any difficulty or see anything out of the ordinary. We rarely watch the evening news and had heard nothing about the perils Nashville, Antioch, Bellevue, Franklin and much of western Tennessee were already experiencing.

Travis and Amy were in Birmingham and seeing the disaster unfolding from there gave us a call to make sure we were safe and sound. We were shocked. I pulled up google and tried to find any information I could. I immediately found footage of the portable building floating down I-24 past cars flooded to their rooftops by rushing water. It was an unbelievable image. After Kris got off the phone he turned on the news and we saw pictures of our own area, not 5 minutes from our home were recognizable landmarks half submerged in water. Little Stoner creek runs near our neighborhood and was overflowing it’s banks through areas of Mt. Juliet. The sudden realization that we may be completely shut in was somewhat uncomfortable but it passed quickly as I realized the greater difficulty many people were having as they watched rising water flood their back yards and creep dangerously close to so much they held dear.

What is happening? It was almost dizzying as the whirl of realization after realization stung me in the following days. The loss of life was horrible, the loss of things wasn’t a picnic, but it meant loss of jobs, loss of income, loss of neighbors. Friends were immediately putting out requests for other friends. Can you spare any clothing, any furniture, anything? My friend Emily asked for help for her dad, only to sadly tell us a few days later that he wouldn’t need it as he is moving to Florida.

Kris and I talked about the fact that an event like this is what changes maps. The river could connect at a curve or change course through an area because the amount of water and active current changes the earth it flows through. An event like this changes lives as well. The devastation changes the course of families, friendships, livelihoods and dreams.

The water continued rising through most of that Monday even though the rain had stopped hours and hours before. The creeks, rivers and dammed lakes that fill the Cumberland River were still emptying into her flood plain and beyond. As late as yesterday there were still neighborhoods where many houses were underwater due to poor drainage.

After seeing the pictures and watching the news on Saturday night, I was a little surprised that we still had church on Sunday morning. I have to admit I was a little angry too. I had a bad attitude about driving through knee deep water with my kids. I was glad that we were there when I saw how many from our Sunday school class made it to church, but other than that…well…I should probably keep my opinion to myself. Even the church nursery was flooding and all the kids had to be put in one area. Thankfully for them, that area is a giant, three story indoor playground. They had a blast. After hearing more and more reports of road closings by people who arrived at church after us, I was almost sure we would be stuck there for the day if not longer. The rain did subside for an hour or so, just as church was letting out so our drive home was not as horrific as our drive there, but we still had to drive through a lot of standing water. In all of the glub-glub hub-hub I tried to take a few pictures. There was a lot of water but as you can see:

…we have good drainage.

I took a picture of me and the 2010 flood.

I’m sorry that these are so blurry. I had my little, somewhat less valuable, camera and the dark shaded area didn’t supply enough light to take a nice still photo. This is the dry creek at the bottom of our hill. It flows with water during any significant rain. I would say this is more than average but it would not have been an indicator to me of what was happening.

Last week became eventful. I have a cousin in Virginia who was in touch with a friend in Nashville. This friend was with her parents who lived along the Harpeth river in Bellevue and they were looking at a very big mess in their home. Through communication on facebook Matt (my cousin) and his wife Mindy got a crew and plan together in order to lend their services to their friend’s family. I offered our extra beds and bathrooms and Matt arrived late Wednesday night to take me up on that. Mindy and friends arrived the next night and though we didn’t spend a lot of time with them I was able to at least make them breakfast and send them off to demo. and reno. with their bellies full. It was wonderful to have each of them here and the boys loved the attention the girls gave them that morning. I wanted to do more, but I felt a bit tied down with my little charges and gladly waited for opportunities I knew would come through churches, friends, volunteer organizations and others. Matt and Mindy have a beautiful little girl named Katie Grace who is not a year old yet. They left her in VA with Mindy’s parents and I can only guess the little bit of anguish it put on Mindy to be driving home to spend a precious few moments before bedtime with her baby on their first Mother’s day.

I know that Matt and Mindy don’t consider what they did out of the ordinary or even highly sacrificial. They were doing what was on their heart.

But I do.

I have to brag a little on my family and my heritage in that respect. Growing up in a large Mennonite family had it’s share of oddities and quirks, but there are few denominations, communities or groups that have a record for service to others like Mennonites. Unfortunately the quirks were just to much for me. I had to leave.

My Mother’s day began on Saturday. Kris called me on his way home from helping some friends move and asked me if the boys and I would be able to hop in the van when he returned so that we could go pick out some trees. I have been wanting to plant some dogwood trees at the bottom of our hill so that we have some pretty color down there in the spring. So for Mother’s day, not only did I get my pretty trees, but I also picked up a lilac bush (one of my favorite flowers from childhood) and my husband did physical labor outdoors by planting them. For those of you who know him, you also know this is a great gift indeed.

I believe this one is the white dogwood…

…and this is the pink one.

I planted the lilac bush nearer the house. I put it in front of our bedroom window at the corner where our room meets the back porch.

My hope is that as the bush thrives, I will have pretty blooms to look at through the porch rails here.

A squirrel. I just thought he was cute.

On Sunday, Kris topped off Mother’s day with our usual “mommy’s off duty” routine. He watched the 5 hour BBC version of Pride and Prejudice with me and allowed me to relax all day long. It was a good Mother’s weekend.

It has been nearly 10 years since my mother passed away and I don’t think I’ve had a Mother’s day since then where I have missed her as much as this one. I think it may have a lot to do with the emotions dredged up by flood waters, but it was certainly a bit more melancholy this year.

The rest of these are photos of the silliness of Ivan. He loves to put things to use in ways they were not intended. He is a little engineer at heart I believe.

Also…I think he’s pretty cute.