Getting it Together

I mentioned in my last post that we needed all the energy we could muster for what faced us when we came home from the beach. Here's why:

We were all smug for getting on the road by 6 a.m. and making it home in 4 hours. What we didn't realize, though, was that there was a MAJOR storm in the DC metro area. 80 mph winds major. 1.5 million people out of power major. 5 deaths major. When we walked in the door, it took me five minutes to decide we needed to get back in the car and find a hotel. Our power was out and the thermostat read 89 degrees, and it was only 10 a.m.; it was only going to get hotter. Unfortunately, everyone had the same idea as us and the hotels were either full or out of power. After three hours of driving around, we finally found a friend who had power and was willing to let us stay.

When our power finally came back on late Sunday, we realized that our air conditioning was broken. Again. I was ready to cry. We had all our stuff from the beach still packed up. Our belongings were scattered between our hot house and my parents' house, which had gained power Saturday evening. I couldn't unpack anything, I couldn't clean out my fridge. I was just frustrated because I was desperate to get settled.

Just as I was about to have a meltdown, I saw on the news a woman crying. Turns out her husband was coming home from class late Friday night when a tree hit an electrical transformer/transmitter box, which then fell on his car, killing him instantly. She is now a single mother of two kids. Suddenly life didn't seem so bad.

I had no idea when I took these pictures that this is where the tree fell on the father of two.

Yes, we weren't able to move back into our house until Tuesday. Yes, we had to throw out pretty much the entire contents of our fridge. Yes, it was really stressful living in someone else's house. Yes, I am freaking out because we are going to have to buy a new heating/cooling unit at a cool cost of $5000. But, I know that woman-- who lives less than 2 miles from me-- would trade with me if it meant her husband could be with her. Gulp.

I'm done unpacking and focusing on making and following a budget so that we don't have to finance this unexpected expense. My dreams of having a pimped out swagger wagon with flames on the side are going to have to be put on hold for the time being, but I'm really lucky that that's the only thing I lost from this storm.