Maintaining an even keel.

After I typed the post title, I wondered what that even meant? Somehow I knew it was a nautical phrase.

Anyway, this past week was to have been my third and final week of training at my new job. But then I was struck with bronchitis and unable to muster energy or stop coughing long enough to make it to work. I went to the doctor, was prescribed antibiotics, which I'm just finishing up. I've been fretting about being behind in training but spoke with my supervisor yesterday and she's already devised a one-on-one plan to help me catch up once I return to work.

Prior to getting sick, we had a wicked storm come through the metro. Wind, hail, non-stop lightning, thunder, rain. We lost three trees, our roof was damaged and hail cracked holes in our siding. The insurance adjusters totaled our roof (Yay, new roof!) and are attempting to locating matching siding for repairing it. If they can't match it, they'll total it (Yay, new siding!) and if that happens, my husband says we might as well replace the gutters, soffits, fascia and get all new windows while the siding is being replaced. (Yay, new windows!)

Our 1970 home is a mish-mash of colors and weathered materials. The wood trim around every window is painted a dark green which is peeling off. The roof is a nasty tan color. The siding is a cold grey "putty" which doesn't coordinate with the roof, the brick front or any other part of the home. There are raw wood posts in front that no one bothered to dress up with columns. So, when the insurance check is cut, I plan to select colors that sync well with each other. And finally having attractive, functioning windows - windows that open for easy cleaning or to let in breezes; windows with proper airtight seals!

My only lament is that we somehow didn't manage to get hail damage IN the house. Like on the medieval cabinets, the gold-fleck Formica counters or the yellowing linoleum floor. Darn it.

Of Human Bonding

Everywhere I go - the supermarket, the gas station, the library - I overhear conversations between complete strangers. People are discussing the bridge collapse and how narrowly they or a loved one or a friend missed being on the bridge when it fell. I much prefer those brief moments of bonding to the media frenzy with news programs sending their top anchors to report directly from the tragedy, the fallen bridge serving as a dramatic backdrop for their reports.

This drawing, done by a fifteen-year-old boy named Will Bornhoft, demonstrates how something like this touches the human spirit.


Photographed by Jeff Wheeler for the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Bridge over IN troubled waters.

I live about twenty minutes drive (non-rush hour) from downtown Minneapolis. I'd taken my parents to the Mall of America and crossed that bridge twice this week. My parents were going to drive that bridge this morning as they returned home to Kansas. I would have taken that bridge to downtown Minneapolis this Monday to attend orientation for my new job.

We're all quite shaken here.

Last night, as my mom and husband were picking up dinner, I decided to monitor the local weather because a storm system was moving into the area. Instead of weather reports, I was stunned to see video taken from a helicopter showing the collapsed I-35W bridge over the Mississippi. I began freaking out, yelling for my stepdad (watching TV in another room) to "TURN IT TO CHANNEL4! No, TURN IT TO CHANNEL 5!" I stood clutching the remote, staring at the TV and saying, "Oh my God oh my God," over and over. Much like I'd done on September 11. Now this tragedy in no way compares to 9/11, except the shock and disbelief and numbness. I had goosebumps all over as I watched the news. When my mom and husband arrived home, I met them at the door. They were grinning and laughing and I asked, "Were you listening to the radio? the I-35W bridge collapsed over the Mississippi!" They'd been listening to Jack FM which isn't really a local station. Then we all stood before the TV in shock, our dinner growing cold.

Not long after that, a thunderstorm hit and our power went out. We sat bathed in the warm glow of candle light, calming down a bit despite the chaos of those hours.

We're OK here. My parents left for Kansas this morning, taking a different route.

Hopefully we'll learn what happened to that bridge. Repairs will take a long time and my husband may even be involved, since he's a phone line repairman and phone lines are strung through piping on those bridges.

We're very sad for those who've lost loved ones. It's a very sad, tragic event. It could have been even more horrendous if it had happened only thirty minutes earlier, during the bulk of the rush hour.