A Birthday, New Shoes, and Hurricane Harvey

We were able to schedule Lee's regular day of tests, procedures, liver clinic, etc., at the Houston Medical Center the day before June's 3rd birthday so that we wouldn't miss all of her birthday fun. Our sweet little Junie is such a delight. Her smiley good nature and happy disposition light up everything she does. She LOVES to pretend, and perform, and talks every minute! It was so fun to celebrate her birthday with her.

Lee was anxious to get back to Cocoa and the horses so he only stayed the weekend, but I had more Houston things on my "To Do" list so I stayed another week -- which turned out to be a fateful decision! Tara was working in Chicago and missed June's birthday, so planned to combine a late celebration with June and her usual back-to-school shopping trip with the kids the next weekend. With Hurricane Harvey threatening to ruin any plans, Tara took the first flight Friday morning so that they could have the day to get started on the weekend's agenda. First was a trip to the Woodlands Mall where they each picked out new shoes. Then Amy & Ben and I met up with them at the theater to see the new movie "Leap." Thankfully, even with the storm on its way, the kids were able to enjoy one of their favorite traditions with Aunt Tara.

On Saturday morning Hurricane Harvey, a huge category 4 storm, slammed into the Texas coast near Rockport. In the next four day period it rained more than 50 inches over metropolitan Houston, causing catastrophic flooding. The floods inundated hundreds of thousands of homes and displaced more than 30,000 people. Harvey is the "wettest tropical cyclone on record in the contiguous United States." Over the next four days Tara and I took our umbrellas and made multiple trips around Coles Crossing to watch the rising waters. The part of Darby House Street right in front of our house was the only part of the entire street that didn't flood. We had no television signal nor internet, but we always had electricity. Tara and I made some crazy meals out of the few things in the pantry and freezer, watched old VHS and DVD movies, and had time to lay in bed and read. The streets were so flooded throughout the entire area that we couldn't get to either the Cosby's or the Vernon's, and they couldn't get to each other either.


On Tuesday, once the waters started to recede in Coles Crossing, I figured out how to get around the flooding by heading north to College Station. Tara was able to get on a flight there and eventually get back to Miami. She would only agree to leave me alone if I would get out and go stay with one of the girls as soon as it was possible. By Tuesday evening Ben & Amy were able to get through in Ben's truck and take me to Alee's. It would be Friday morning before the airport opened and resumed flights, but eventually I made it back to Montana. We were especially fortunate that the flood waters did not get into any of our homes, but many of our friends and neighbors suffered devastating flooding in their homes. Houston will be recovering for months, and maybe never fully recover. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience for everyone. We all learned valuable lessons about being prepared and never to underestimate the power of Mother Nature!