Drenching Hope

Ok, girlfriends, I said my prayers, I praised the Lord for yours, and I was encouraged my an email contact from a lovely woman. I was filled with a sense of empowerment and I set out to focus on my husbands return. I was going to be warm, and welcoming (a word??).

I gathered up a welcome committee. I told Tim to be ready at 9:30pm. He and his girlfriend, Amber, were watching a movie with Cory in the TV room. I asked Cory to go but he was extremely tired from a hard day's work. I took a brief nap so I wouldn't be tired and cranky. I got up and fixed my hair, which I had dyed the night before. I had so much gray and dullness that I didn't like looking at myself, and why would anyone else. I had the Phyllis Diller hair for real this time. What ever happened to Phyllis Diller? Anyways, I brushed my teeth, freshened my makeup and sprayed on cologne. I was presentable and ready to fight for my romance and happiness.

WELL! As I was ready to walk out the door, I decided to take out the trash so Kevin would not have to when he woke up. Cory agreed to help. It was sprinkling rain lightly. We loaded up the van with trash to drive to the dumpster across the street. We saw lightning in the distance. Cory decides at the last minute to go with us so he can drive. It was truly precious because he knew a storm was coming and I hate driving in the rain at night.

We are finally off to the airport in Greenville, SC. It is 9:29 pm. Yahoo! We are on time. We drive across the street and the rain is coming down in sheets and lightning is bouncing everywhere. I recruit Tim to help me unload the van of my 3 trash bags. He doesn’t protest too much. I tell him as we are unloading to hurry so the lightning doesn’t hit us. I was serious but he laughed. It was precious! He laughed, ladies, at one of my jokes…he thought it was at least. We put our 1 minute soaked bodies back in the car and drove off….over the river and through the woods.

Over the rivers of rain we drove as we left our country home. The rain was so heavy that it was pooling on the roads. The trees were swaying in the wind….BIG trees! It was tense. The rain proceeded to follow us to I-26. We jumped on the freeway and the sheets of rain kept us covered. The wipers were screaming in pain because they couldn’t keep up. The radio was blaring because the kids couldn’t hear. The van was like the little engine that could. Huge trucks were passing us throwing more rain. It was soon to be an even more arduous trip. As we approach South Carolina, the trip gets worse. It is raining even heavier if you can believe it. The radio is blaring Emergency Signals re: tornado watches, and flash flooding. The traffic is now going 35 mph and everyone has their hazard lights on. Cars are pulling off the road. Trucks are parking. Winds are so strong that we even saw a 2 trailer truck pull over because the wind had pulled its second trailer askew. Lightning is so bad that it seems like a strobe light show. We are all pasted to the windows looking for a tornado. Why? What were we going to do? I was saying my prayers. It took a huge storm…but this Jesus girl was praying.

We are on I85 in South Carolina approaching Greer area and the rain completely stops! It is dry! We turn off the hazards and catch our breaths. Tim undoes his seat belt, the rebel. It was so scary before that he volunteered to put on his seat belt. Amber is quiet with her big beautiful eyes. We all relax…for about 5 minutes. As we approach the airport and park in the "no parking but ok to load" zone???, we sit quietly as the rain drops bounce off the windshield. We hear the thumping of thunder. Lightning is starting to light up the sky. Oh my goodness, we brought the storm with us. It was like a scene from Jurassic Park. We hear noises and the environment is tense as the monster dinosaur approaches. It hits, the rain comes down in sheets. We can’t hear each other talk. I get a text from Kevin. The plane landed but there is no one brave enough to direct the plane to park. He is grounded for 15 mins before unloading.

During those 15 minutes, my fresh make up is melted from stress, my hair is frizzy, my mouth is dry, and I look like a wild woman. Then I see him. He is dressed nicely, all tucked in, a ball cap and a big cute smile. He throws his luggage in the back and then pulls open the van door and gives me a brief kiss before sliding in the driver’s seat to take his family home.

I am not saying things are perfect between us but just maybe things will be ok. We were peaceful and we smiled at each other.

As for Tim, he was full of joy to see his dad. The jokes kept flying and laughter was louder than the rain. In fact, I didn’t even know when the rain stopped. We stopped at a convenience store and every one got snacks and drinks. The boys were like little kids again asking their dad for money for treats…something we used to do on Sunday afternoon drives and long trips.

It was only a night girlfriends, but my boy was laughing and enjoying his family. Wow!

Please keep praying my friends. I have already experienced hope and blessings. I hope you know that you make a difference in my life.
Thank you Deanna for the phone calls,
Lou Ann for your encouragement and offers to listen,
Sonia for your sermonette email which I prize,
Rheta for your card, you are a friend,
Robin for you sweet comments,
Sherri for you dinner dates,
Lisa P. for your encouragement and humor,
and Tami, my companion this last weekend.

I am missing some of you by name and all those who remain anonymous, but please know I do love you and never take for granted our “webship”.

It's a good thing that beauty is only skin deep, or I'd be rotten to the core.
Phyllis Diller

Most children threaten at times to run away from home. This is the only thing that keeps some parents going.
Phyllis Diller

Tranquilizers work only if you follow the advice on the bottle - keep away from children.
Phyllis Diller