Mommy Mania

Today I had my first (but probably not last) episode of "Mommy Mania". I was at work this morning when I found out we were under a severe thunderstorm watch for the day. Being from the midwest, this basically means nothing. If it's not a tornado warning, we all pretty much disregard the watches and warnings. I was a little nervous about Darlene being at home with Jayce during a thunderstorm because Jayce has mild thunder phobia, but figured it wouldn't be a big deal. But as the storm got closer and started rolling in, the news and radar was showing a pretty nasty storm. I only had a few appointments for the morning, so I figured I would just head home when they were finished. But, things kept coming up, of course. So by the time I actually walked out the back door at work, the storm was in full force.

It was pitch black outside and the rain was blowing in sheets. I was soaked through (literally) just from running from the door of work to my car in the parking lot. At this point, my logical side suggested that maybe it was too severe to drive in. HAH! My Mommy Mania side could think of nothing else but getting home to my son! The Mommy Mania won out. It took me 20 minutes to drive the 4 miles to my house. The rain was so thick that my visibility was about 25 feet in front of my car. The wind was blowing between 65 and 75 miles per hour. It hailed. A tree fell into the street about 100 yards in front of me. I couldn't see anything. Roads were flooded and cars were wrecked or pulled over to the side of the road. But I just kept barreling on -- nothing could stop me! Trees were down all over my neighborhood, so I had to navigate a minor maze just to find an open roadway to get home. But I finally made it home and rode out the rest of the storm with Darlene and Ledger.

Our house sustained some very minor damage to the back fence and some small tree branches were knocked down. Some of my neighbors had much more damage. I took a few pictures, so that you could all see what I was willing to drive through to get to my little boy!

In the picture above, you can actually see our street sign with trees down blocking the road so bad that it's impassable.

This is in the front yard directly across the street from us. Their tree completely broke in half and landed on the front porch and on top of their car. (Guess that will teach them to park in the garage!)

So, I have learned an important lesson: Don't get in between a mommy and her baby!