On the Way

- March 15, 2019

After a *really* rough day yesterday, we are finally on our way.

The bus ride to O'Hare went very smoothly, as did our check-in and security screening.

The sunrise out my window is so beautiful right now...

Thursday, however, began with me marshaling the family to go clean everything that wasn't waterproof out of the addition basement, as we knew flood weather was on the way. It was ironic to know that the high temps and sunny skies that we would have otherwise welcomed were bringing lots of trouble for us.

By 9:30, it was clear that the basement was definitely going to flood, but we had done a good job cleaning, so I wasn't worried. However, after lunch, I remembered that the sump pump in the other lowered basement room was turned off. I checked the sump and it was nearly full! The pump caught up after I powered it on, but there were four walls-worth of drywall tearout lying on the floor, and I became paranoid that if the pump were to fail or the power to go out, there would be an enormous mess.

I checked online and found that the dump was open until 2:45. So I activated the boys (for the second time that day) to help me carry well over 1,000 pounds of drywall garbage out to the garage. We got a good chunk of it loaded into the truck and I strapped it down while the thunder and lightning started outside. Yes you read that correctly: I was headed to the dump in a thunderstorm with 900 pounds of garbage when I should have been packing for an international trip.

At this point, the creek was flooding so high that I was starting to get worried about Lisa getting trapped at home, so I had her make a shopping list that I could take care of while I was out. Then I drove to the dump (45 minutes one way), got rid of the trash and went shopping. It was 4:30 by the time I got home.

I still wasn't packed.

I *started* packing, but didn't have much time before dinner. After dinner, we were cleaning up when one of the kids shouted from the basement "the totes are tipping over!". The water had gotten so high in the addition that the otherwise waterproof totes had started to float, and, since they were stacked, the top levels were tipping, falling into the water and getting completely soaked. Now we had a full disaster on our hands. Owen and I stood there frantically wringing frigid water from over a dozen totes of clothing piece by piece, while Lisa ran back and forth getting them to the laundry area. Eventually she had to leave because the little kids needed to go to bed, and Claire took over. The real gut-wrencher was the Christmas decoration tote. Probably the only time in my life I'll be glad so many of our ornaments are plastic!

Somewhere in the middle of this, my dad called, found out what was happening, and wisely tried to get me to admit that maybe I was needed more at home than in El Salvador. I would have done the same thing in his situation. It was a terrible decision to have to make in such a short amount of time, but in the end, I chose to stick with the plan, and here we are, halfway to Atlanta.

The good news is that I was able get everything packed in the nick of time, travel is going smoothly, my ear (different story) is not being hurt by the cabin pressure, and Lisa reports that the water is already going down in the basement. We've got a whole roster of friends lined up at home to help Lisa if she needs it, and the sun is shining in my window.