Catching Up on the Craziness

The last week has been one of the most insane that I can remember. Where to begin? I guess last weekend is as good a place to start as any.

Last Friday, as we frequently do, Miriam, Mikaela and I had Shabbat dinner with Mom & Dad (and Sarah and Matt and Samantha too). It started storming during dinner. I left first, so that I could open up the house and Miriam and Mikaela could just dash right in without having to wait to get the door open. As I approached our neighborhood, it became increasingly clear that this was not an ordinary storm. The power was out around our house, and 63rd street would have required a power boat to cross.

I called Miriam on her cell – she was already at 95th and Mission. I had her go to the OP Convention Center and check she and Mikaela into a hotel for the night – there was no way they were going to make it home. For my part, I turned back South on Rockhill to head up the hill and avoid the floodwaters on 63rd Street. But as I approached Baptist Hospital, there were flooded out cars in the street ahead of me. It was hard to see at this point – a power outage had taken down most of the streetlights. I decided to turn in to the Baptist parking lot, because it is on higher ground. Before I even got to the foot of the driveway, I knew that wasn’t my best decision ever. My car was flooded. The engine died and it wouldn’t restart. I quickly gathered a few things right there in arm’s reach and got out of the car. The water was over my knee as I dashed throught he pouring rain up the hill to Baptist’s lobby, leaving my flooded out car behind.

When the rain stopped, I decided to walk home and check on the house. I walked past my car on the way. The water was up to the top of my thighs and the water inside my car was up above the armrest between the seats. By the time I got back to the house, luckily the power had been restored. I contacted AAA about towing my car out of the street. We had to wait for the water to recede. I rode with the tow truck driver to pick up my car at about 2 a.m. A second rain after I got home pushed the water in the basement up to about four inches. I think that this time we had things up high enough that there wasn’t any damage. And it did drain away quickly. As of yesterday, my insurance company has confirmed that my car is being considered a total loss. I should break even, with the remaining value of the car being approximately equal to what I still owe on the loan.

Juggling cars in the interim ended up being easy, but not for any good reason. Dad went in to the hospital on Sunday evening. He’d been fighting a horrible headache with occassional neck muscle aches and a fever that came and went for 10 days. At Menorah, they were finally able to diagnose him with viral meningitis. He’s still there in the hospital, receiving anti-viral meds and painkillers for the headache. Essentially, the virus just has to run its course.

Then, to top it all off, I left this morning for Washington, D.C. I’ve got meetings here all day tomorrow, and I’ll be getting back to KC on Friday.

Hopefully, this weekend will be relaxing and things will start getting back to normal.