Late Sunday night my son sent a text message that they had already received 36 inches of rain at their home. I’m not a numbers guy, but that sounded like a lot of rain to me. If I calculated the number correctly, isn’t that the equivalent of three feet of water? Of course it is. I was only joking when I suggested that it was almost beyond my grasp to figure out the depth. If I remember correctly from my childhood, three feet was the depth of the shallow end at the public swimming pool where I took swimming lessons as a kid. That is a lot of water!
Have you ever stopped to calculate how much a body of water that deep would weigh? Okay, just to provide you some level of awareness, pick up a gallon jug of water with each hand and hold your arms out and see how long you can hold them in that position. Water weighs more than you might think.
I can’t recall whom I have to thank for the imagery associated to the game of holding a gallon of water in each hand with outstretched arms to see who can hold the jugs in place the longest. It will probably come to me, but the participants in the contest were a father and his two adult sons. The father who was probably in the neighborhood of my age, proved to be the winner. In case you’re wondering, that is another classic example of the importance of “never judging a book by it's cover.” Most folks with a bent toward gambling probably would have put their money on either of the man’s sons.
With the text message, Craig also sent accompanying pictures of not only the stock pond on their place that was filled to the brim, but he included another picture of what appeared to be a newly formed stream on their property. It was located in front of their home and ran parallel to the road. I had never seen water standing in that area before. I think he labeled it: “Schwanbeck River". I found it disturbing. The thing about water is that it can seemingly come out of nowhere and in less time that you can believe, the expression “Hello Houston, we’ve got a problem” becomes one’s reality.
Seriously, all of us have now seen enough news related video coverage of Houston under water that we’d have to admit it defies comprehension. Who would have ever thought? I’m not a novice when it comes to Houston and rain. I’ve been there when standing water appeared to be the work of a magician saying “Abracadabra” and you instantly had the sense that your car needed pontoons to navigate what you thought was a freeway turned river. It happened so quickly that it seemed like it happened at the drop of a hat or the snap of a magician’s fingers.
I think it was a freeway turned river depicted on yesterday's news where the depth of the water had risen to a level of within two feet below the bottom of the overhanging large green road sign that caught my attention. By the way, eighteen-wheelers with a load of cargo regularly pass under those signs with lots of room to spare. No, this was more than the work of a magician unless it was the work of a mean spirited magician.
Okay, let me digress. I knew it would eventually come to me. Actually, I’m surprised that it came as quickly as it did. The person sharing the story of the gallon water jug holding contest was one of the sons who participated in the contest. I think he may also be part owner of a fitness center. The guy works out regularly. He also works in the restaurant his father owns in Dillon, CO. As I recall, the food was exceptional as was the conversation.
Okay, now for more about the mean spirited magician who has placed much of Texas in harms way. Who would have thought anyone could have that kind of influence? Like I shared in a previous blog, Harvey’s arrival was expected, but no one had the capacity to estimate the damage he could cause.
I’ve actually only known one person named Harvey and I’ve mostly always thought of him as a kind man. He was the father of a close friend back in my high school years. He was highly respected and successful. I’m not sure what happened, but seemingly overnight Harvey changed. Maybe he didn’t change, but he changed his address. He also changed the world for my friend and his mom. They came home one day and the husband and father had moved out. Everything else was in place as it had previously been. The only thing missing was Harvey’s clothes from his closet and Harvey being in his place at the table.
There wasn’t even a note providing information regarding Harvey’s whereabouts. Far be it for me to judge, but that had to be a painful way to alter a relationship. Whether it caused Harvey pain, I don’t know. But I do know it had life long impact on my friend’s mother whose world immediately collapsed. My friend subsequently didn’t share much about how the loss impacted his life, but that too, had to be a bitter disappointment.
The thought of Harvey as the mean spirited magician in Houston leaves me teary eyed. Honestly, who would ever have considered Harvey's propensity to damage and destroy homes and lives. A friend sent me information yesterday about the tragic death of an infant who was swept out of his parents hands after the family was trapped in their car in flood waters. How incredibly tragic and sad!
Let me end of a lighter note. Getting back to the General who doesn’t give me credit to have enough sense to know when to come in out of the rain, she was not happy with me yesterday morning. Okay, so I got up early yesterday. I had a blog to write and things to do. Of course, on the top of my list was concern regarding my son and his family’s situation? After all, Harvey is still in their immediate neighborhood and his mean-spirited generosity related to rainfall continues to create problems.
I probably made the type of mistake that you too, might make. I'd say it was thoughtless of me, but that's basically was the General said and I opted to disagree. Monday morning, as a frame of reference, I went back to the last text message that Craig sent to my phone. I simply replied yesterday morning by asking for an update. After all, like father/like son. Craig is an early riser.
The General maintains that I should have had enough sense to realize I was responding to a group text. Okay, so I woke her up with my text about 5:00 a.m. yesterday morning. I’m sorry! Actually I didn’t even think about it. That’s exactly the point she wanted to make. She probably isn’t the only person on the distribution list that had an unfavorable opinion regarding me yesterday morning.
The solution is simple. If people don’t want to be awakened by an early morning text, they can silence their phone. The General will have no part of that kind of logic. She thinks a better solution is for me to be respectful of a person’s need for sleep and keep my texts to myself until the light of day. Maybe she’s right? I probably don’t have enough sense to get in out of the rain.
All My Best!
Don