Hello, it’s been a while since we’ve posted. And it’s been a crappy few days. Hopefully most of you had a great Memorial Day weekend, and were able to observe the holiday and sacrifices properly. I had a post planned out, but it never came to fruition.
Unfortunately, central Louisiana didn’t have such a great weekend. Ours started off just fine- Saturday I got a lot of things accomplished, as did Jerry. Vehicles got washed, vacuumed, the whole works. Well, a few days prior, though, a tree limb fell onto my car, shattered my headlight, and dented my hood. I didn’t realize the tree limbs would soon get a lot worse.
Sunday, we headed to Shreveport to do a bit of shopping and pick up some things we needed. We usually stay pretty late, visit friends, go to the casino, etc. But not this time- it started raining, electricity in stores started flickering, and emergency warnings were being played on the radio. Things started to get a bit better, but we figured we’d better head home.
As soon as we got into town about 12:30 am, everything was dark. We started to pull into our neighborhood, and there were lights. Thank goodness! But, I mentioned to Jerry that since Murphy’s Law always applies to us, we would probably be the only house without power. Sadly, I was RIGHT. Well, technically there were about five of us without power, and they said it had gone out between 7 and 8. Great, we’ve been out for several hours, but that’s nothing new for our town. And I could see a tree down next to our driveway, even in the dark.
I called the city’s utility emergency line, and let them know about the outage. Since it was just our five houses, we knew it wasn’t a transformer. The power goes out here ALL. THE. TIME. and it’s just a breaker. They come by with a long pole, flip the breaker, and voila, power’s back on. 2 am., still no power. 4 am., no power. This continued on and on.
7 am., no power. Noon the next day, no power. 5 pm., no power. Large sections of town DID have power, so it made no sense that they wouldn’t just come flip our breaker. Instead, we lost all of our food, and as our luck would have it, we had just gotten groceries, and I had done hours worth of meal prep. All lost. Because they wouldn’t send someone to poke a switch with a stick.
We had a tree down in the back yard, and numerous giant limbs everywhere. Some people are saying that a tornado came through, but I’m not sure. It would certainly make sense with the vast damage that was done. Roofs torn up, signs down, huge oak trees uprooted, vehicles destroyed… the list goes on and on.
About that power now… we were actually FORTUNATE to have power TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATER. The storm occurred on Sunday and Monday, it’s now just after midnight on Thursday. Some people are STILL WITHOUT POWER. A friend of mine’s husband works for the city utilities, and was out working from 10 pm. Sunday, and didn’t get home until 7:30 pm. Monday. Worked 20 hours or so straight, only to come home to his own house not having power.
A lineman in a neighboring town was severely injured after being electrocuted, trying to help others- seems both arms had to be amputated. Workers all over the area were missing out on time with their families, missing out on having Memorial Day off, all because of this storm. Many were even out in their own personal vehicles trying to assist others. As much as I hate this town, and as unhappy as I am, there are some truly wonderful people who would do anything to help others.
I hate being without power. But even worse was not being able to celebrate Memorial Day “properly.” You see, one of the things I miss most about being back home in Iowa is the respect for our veterans and those who gave their lives. Not that people don’t have that respect here, but growing up in such a small town, service was a HUGE part of our lives (see this post).
I didn’t realize that barbecuing was “thing” until I was a bit older. Memorial Day was ALWAYS about those who made the ultimate sacrifice for others. The worst part of the weekend was that the frustration of so much loss and damage took over the whole day. Having service members and veterans in my family, and being a veteran myself, it was a disappointing day. It saddens me that not as much focus and attention could be given to those who deserved it and gave everything for us.
After this experience, I think it’s important to keep in mind that we don’t have to wait until Memorial Day to remember. Sacrifices were made to keep us safe EVERY day, not just one day a year. It’s only fair that we remember those sacrifices EVERY day.
While I still remain a bit bitter about the weekend, I can’t change it. I’ll keep our flag flying high, and remember the sacrifices made for us daily.
If you don’t see a YouTube video above, click here.
How did you celebrate Memorial Day? Scroll down to comment below!
