Wednesday, October 2, 2024

What I was writing when the power went out on Friday morning, Sept. 27

If there wasn't a huge hurricane to our south, I'd be making last preparations for a trip to Williamsburg, where I'll be leading workshops during my mom's women's group at St. Stephen Lutheran Church.  I'm still hoping to get there today, but I'll wait to leave until later in the morning--or perhaps even noon or 1.

I woke up an hour ago and wondered if I should go ahead and leave.  Now I am very glad that I didn't.  The rain sounds intense.  As I thought about leaving, I reminded myself that I didn't want to be on the road trying to outrun the storm when the storm arrived.

It's been raining steadily since Wednesday night.  I am still thinking we will be O.K. in terms of flooding. We are not near any rivers.  The rain will run down our hill.  I am glad that I am not in charge of Wal-Mart, which is down the hill beneath us, surrounded by non-porous surfaces.

We do have high winds in our forecast, and I do worry about the trees staying upright in the saturated soil.  I don't see that we can do much about that.

Yesterday I went down the mountain to Spartanburg Methodist College.  I had a day of student conferences planned, and the thought of rescheduling 30 students just made my head hurt.  As I was driving down, more than once I thought about the stupidity of my choice.  This morning, I reminded myself of how I felt yesterday, how I resolved not to leave for Williamsburg until full daylight--daylight behind clouds, but daylight.

It was a quiet morning on campus, but most of my students did come for morning interviews.  I sent an e-mail and follow up phone calls to the 8 students with an afternoon conference because I knew that weather conditions would deteriorate.  I was back on the road by 12:45.

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