The day started out well, had a big bump in the middle of it, and then a really disastrous afternoon that could have ended up so much worse - I am so very grateful it ended the way it has. God is to be praised, I can say that. This blog will be different than most. It will be more inwardly reflective, and it will explain a little more about who I am, who most of us are, and why we do the things we do. There may not be a good excuse, but there could be reasons.
My friend Jeannie and I drove out to El Reno, my new favorite place to go, and we literally parked the car and walked around the place. I wasn't able to walk 700 steps two weeks ago, and today we put in over 2.5 miles! That's amazing. The difference, the vast difference, is that I have been going to a chiropractor, and he has been a tremendous asset, to say the least. Wow! What a significant change!
As we were about to leave the small town and return to our big city lives, I received a call from one of my coworkers, a man I spoke to almost daily, but it was on a weekend. He told me that another one of our co-workers, a woman I didn't like even in the least, had been killed in a terrible personal family home fire just a few hours beforehand. It's not something I would ever have wanted to hear. I didn't get along with her, but that's even a somewhat untruthful statement, because we never personally interacted; once maybe.
During a Teams call, the only one she and I ever shared, she was rude, and I dismissed her. She then thought I was arrogant and dismissed me. We had a rather uncomfortable relationship at work because she was always trying to push the envelope to look better. Her behavior bled into our work, causing us to be unsettled and upset more often than necessary. Although we complained about her antics, nothing was done to address the issue. Well, she died today.
She died in an incredibly sad way, and my heart is broken over it. We weren't friends, no, but I ache knowing she was a mother, a grandmother, a good friend, a daughter, a wife, and she had plans. She was a Christian, so that's what helped me understand the feelings I was experiencing. I can't say I'm sorry for what I said to her, any more than I would expect her to be sorry for what she said to me. We're two very different people, both stubborn, both know-it-alls, and we are probably a lot more alike than I'd like to admit.
The fire was devastating; probably a propane gas explosion, but they haven't given too many details about it. She wasn't alone in the blaze; six were in the mobile home, and only three survived. Two firefighters were injured as well. Truly one of the saddest things, and I will absolutely keep her family in my prayers. When we're both in Heaven, we'll hug and neither of us will remember thinking what we thought about each other. We're simply just two women who do things differently; neither one wants to change, but it hurts her family to lose a good woman.
After her passing, after being told of her passing, my friend and I drove around El Reno a bit more and took in the sights. We looked at houses in neighborhoods I would consider moving to, and we decided to check out two or three more stores before driving home. When we hit the highway, we found ourselves approaching what appeared to be a wall cloud - it didn't look too bad, but once we got into it, there was no way to get out of it. We were STUCK.
The cloud turned out to be a supercell that dumped and I mean DUMPED hoards of water onto us, no hail, just flood-type rains falling hard and rapidly. I couldn't see to drive. I was going 16 miles per hour on I-40! We found the first exit and creeped our way off the highway into bottom-of-the-car deep waters. We pulled into Crest Foods, and I let her out at the door. I found a spot to park, and by the time I got into the store, it looked as if I jumped into the deep end of a pool! I am not kidding.
We waited it out, taking a chance that it was OK to continue our way home, another 17 miles or so, but it was not. We ran into some of the heaviest flooded streets I've ever experienced, and I live in Oklahoma! It was overcrowded, overflowing, and resembled rivers of water, not just a little water. We were forced to pull over three more times, but with more rain in the forecast, we decided to make the trek between the cells. It took us about an hour to drive 17 miles - and it was not UP HILL all the way, we kept asking Where are these hills our parents told us they walked?
We finally got home - Thank you, Jesus! We finally made it home safely, but I do hear a weird noise coming from my car. I pulled into the garage, and I may not be able to pull back out of it. I don't know. I may end up buying a new car soon. This was by far the worst flood or water event (driving) I have ever experienced, and I don't want to do it again. I've got quite a good reputation for maneuvering through mud and wet sand, but water that comes up to the bottom of my door? (I don't drive a low-to-the-ground car!) It was unreal. I hope to never ever do that again -- if I hear it's going to sprinkle, I'll likely say nope, I'll wait.
Well, here I am - thanking God again. He protects and He loves. I know that my co-worker's family is mourning, and they've literally lost everything they've ever owned in that fire. Please pray for them. I don't want to say their names. Just pray for T's family -- she's with Jesus, I know that. She and I didn't see eye to eye on most things, but we both loved a giving, living Savior.
No comments:
Post a Comment