I got here to the Ida Culver house a little before my 8:00 time to meet dad at the dining room for breakfast. As I sat in the small waiting area the storm quickly increased in intensity until...BOOM!...and the power in the entire complex went out. Think about 280+ seniors, most of whom are barely ambulatory and many of whom use walkers, all without power. What comes to mind?
Start with the elevators.
Then the heat (seniors like their living quarters something just this side of stifling). No coffee, the seniors’ equivalent of automotive starter fluid.
It goes on from there.
Fortunately, the power was back on an hour later. I don’t know if it was the wind or the lightning but the report is that a tree fell over power lines.
This afternoon we went to the memorial service for Evelyn Fosse (see last night’s post). I’m glad I was here for it, especially for the fellowship time afterward. It gave me an opportunity to see people I would have otherwise missed, with the added bonus of seeing childhood friends in town for the service.
I’m writing this in stages throughout the day. The above was written late afternoon. Now we’ve just returned from the dining room. Dad is in his recliner waiting for a nitroglycerin pill to take affect looking pallid and weak. Mother just called me out to the kitchen to ask my advice. (Are you ready for this?) She stores things in the oven (?!), somehow the oven got turned on (!!), and now there’s melted plastic in there (!!!). Thankfully, the oven was at a low setting or there likely would have been a fire. Once it all cools down and turns to a solid again I’ll clean up the mess.
I’m thankful I’m here tonight. If I were not, would mom have been able to get dad from the living room into his recliner while the nitro did its work? Or would he have landed on the living room floor? And while she was dealing with him what would have happened in the kitchen?
We knew getting them out of their house and into this independent/assisted living facility was the wisest course - whether mom agreed or not (she didn’t!). But times like this I wonder if “independent” is more than they should have. I am also reminded that God is in control, he watches over them and I (we) must trust him for their well being just as they trusted him for our well being when we went off to be independent for the first time.
[Seriously, who thinks the oven is a good place to store things?]
4 comments:
My mother-in-law stores all forms of candy in her dishwasher!
cast iron skillet that I forgot was being stored in the oven + stupidly trying to take it out without a potholder = big patch of melted carpet in that apartment probably to this day
It was a goodnthing you were in Seattle with then this week, especially today. I view it as a gift from our Sovereign God. Things don't just happen, they're planned.
My suggestion is a George Foreman. Not only does it cook away the fat - you can see what's stored inside!
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