And more rain coming. We have storms through Monday, then tapering off and starting up again on Saturday again. But of course this is all subject to change. Even when it said we had barely any chance of raining, it was pouring.

Here they said no chance of rain.

Soooooo, I had to get some really important documents signed, notarized, faxed and fedexed. I had gone out the night before, after they sent them to me soooo late and we were in the middle of a terrible storm. Thunder, lightning, deluge of rain. It’s dangerous. It’s not fiction. People most often drown in cars swept away in flood waters. But I had a deadline on the documents. Which is why I was soooo irritated that they hadn’t come in earlier and I could have taken care of the matter then. Even when I had gone out earlier to mail a package, and planned to go to the grocery store, the torrential rains started, and I returned home. Underwriters waited til the title company was closed. I didn’t get them until nearly 6 pm. Six-thirty, the fedex office was going to be closed. They also do faxes and notary. I assumed that since the rains were going to continue ALL NIGHT LONG, it would be better to go out then.

WRONG.

With that much rain in such a short period of time, roads were badly flooded. Lower riding cars than mine were sitting still, in a quandary, not sure what to do. Cars moved around the barrier, which I didn’t mind, but were headed straight for me, and I had to pull over when I could. I ended up doing the same thing when I saw the floodwaters ahead and trucks that ride higher than mine were submersed in water up to their headlights. A low riding truck had put his flashers on and just stopped before he entered the floodwaters.

Turn around, don’t drown has become the motto to warn people how dangerous it is to enter flooded roads. Car engines stall out. The car quickly fills with water. People drown. At Fort Hood, they were still searching for 6 soldiers missing after their truck was swept away in flood waters, 3 drowned, 3 are in stable condition, and 6 still unaccounted for.

I called the title company in the morning to let them know I was going to risk going out to get the documents signed, but that we’d had really bad flooding. Our streets are fine. The road we get on from there was fine. The roads leading to the main one where the businesses are located and where I needed to go, flood. Since I’m new here, I had no idea.

My neighbor had gone to the grocery store in the same plaza. I had heard him leave, so I called his wife to see how the roads were. She told me where he was at. So I tried calling him, but no answer. I let everyone know I was going and would let them know when I got there and got back safely. Then I got in my car and drove the wet streets, took a different road, and it was fine. Now, we’d had rain ALL NIGHT LONG. And that morning when I got up, it had started up again. But we had a two-hour break from the rain before the bank opened. I was there 15 mins before it opened. The post office is behind that, and the grocery store next to it. So I figured maybe I could make it to all three before the deluge began again. It was coming. The sky was turning pitch black. I was running out of time. I needed to get the paperwork done pronto, risk getting some groceries, and return home before the rains started and the road flooded again.

Okay, now this is like a book. Conflict, conflict, conflict. Deadlines. Ticking time-bomb. Threats. Bad stuff coming. Yet the thing I had to do was so important, I had to get it done, pronto. Motivation.

You always wonder why anyone in their right mind would leave their home in the middle of a disaster, unless their home is flooded and they need to leave to get to safety. Most of the people were trying to get home from work. Others, like me, were going somewhere. I had a really important reason. Anything else, and I would have said, no way, Jose, and stayed home. Not worth the risk.

So, I get the documents signed notarized, faxed. Drive to the postal annex and the clouds are looking eerily ominous. Darkening by the second. But no rain. So I run inside, get the paperwork fedexed, and run right next to the grocery store. I can do this. I wanted to get bottled water in case we have problems with our water. I needed potatoes. That’s the Irish in me.

And then it happened. I had just left the grocery store when it began. The deluge. Now…I wasn’t wearing a rain jacket. Dummy me. It was in the car. It was so hot and wasn’t raining, and I just didn’t think of it. I just thought: run in, and get out.

I had bought eggs. I think buying eggs is a mistake for me. I bought some and crushed them (since I don’t buy them but rarely), and then I bought some and we had the power outage and I had to throw them away. So I bought some and the rains were coming down hard, soaking me, lightning striking right overhead, I’m running for the car, pushing the metal basket ahead of me thinking, this is so not good. I’m throwing the 3 bags I picked up as fast as I could into the car. The bottled water is heavy and it took me a couple of minutes longer to throw it in the car. Then I had to run the basket to the basket corral. And then I ran back and got into the car and just sat, soaked, the adrenaline still pumping.

And I thought–oh, no, where did I throw my eggs?

I kept thinking the road’s going to flood before I can get home. It was coming down hard. The lightning was cracking right overhead. But 5 cars were trying to back out at once. My windows had fogged up and I couldn’t see. I don’t usually have to use the defroster, so still having a time with figuring it out. I finally leave after 3 of the cars leave, and then I’m on the road, barely able to see because the rain is coming down so hard. The road is beginning to flood. I make it home, drive into my dry garage and just sit there. The adrenaline still pumping.

I unload the groceries, greet the puppies, put away the groceries, no, I didn’t look at the eggs. I couldn’t. Not yet. I let everyone know the documents were off, the title company, my realtor, my kids, my friends to let them know I was home safe and sound.

And then I checked the eggs.

All intact. And I’ll have some for breakfast.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. Fog this morning. More rain coming. Weatherman says in half an hour, so I took the puppies out one more time. And I’m back to the real world of edits. And I’m not going anywhere.

Happy TGIF!!!

Terry