Throwing a Scarlet

It flooded and stormed in my small western Tennessee town on Saturday. Families were evacuated by boat. I have no reason to complain.

People who had little to begin with have been left with absolutely nothing. Two trailer parks and one Section 8 housing area flooded. I have no reason to complain.

Big Creek breached its levee and in a matter of minutes the water in housing at Naval Support Activity Mid-South went from ankle to waist-deep. I have no reason to complain.

After a sleepless Friday night filled with tornado sirens blasting, thunder rolling and lightning flashing, I awoke, placed my feet on the floor and felt water seeping between my toes. Yikes! I put my hands on the floor and felt from my bedside to the window and to the door of the bathroom. Yep. Wet. Lovely.

My husband sits up after I bellow at him for a few seconds. “We’ve got a leak! The floor is wet! Get out of bed!”

He looks at me as if I’ve lost my mind and then his work phone begins buzzing and continues buzzing, unless he’s talking on it, for the next hour.

My son and I throw all my husband’s shoes into the tub to get them off the floor of his closet.

Water in the closet, water in the bedroom, water all against the building on the outside …

Before he left my dear husband dug a quick, short trench to move the standing water from the house. My friend’s husband came over with their shop-vac and he dug a better trench (bless his heart). My friend and I moved the king-sized bed and all the furniture away from the wall.

I’ve been re-digging trenches and running the shop-vac since then.

We couldn’t get out of our neighborhood on Saturday. I called and texted and Facebooked offering our two upstairs rooms but got no takers until I reached my son’s friend. His family had been evacuated from their home in one of the water-logged trailer parks. His mom, a city police officer, said they were fine and had somewhere to stay. The phone rang immediately after I placed it on the cradle. Her son said he’d much rather come to our house than stay where he was and could his mom bring him?

He spent the night. The boys had a great time. He kept my son occupied.

I dug trenches. I shop-vac’d. I cooked and cleaned. I cleaned out the pool. I have no reason to complain.

Groceries! Kroger had been open on Saturday but I couldn’t get there. Yes, the police officer got to my house fine, but she’s the one who told me to stay put. I obey the law. While I needed some of the basics I knew we could survive without them.

I grocery shopped on Sunday and let me tell you, it was nice to walk in a clean store and shop at my leisure. It was nothing like the aftermath of Hugo where we had to stand in a line, on a broken-glass strewn sidewalk and give our orders to the clerks who then ran around the dark store collecting our items and then tallying our cost on a legal pad.

My husband worked from 0900 to 2100 hours on Saturday and 0600 to 1900 hours on Sunday. He helped organized feeding, transporting and housing 800+ dislocated Navy family members and 200 Navy reservists. He contacted his 120 employees to see if they needed assistance.

I dug trenches. I shop-vac’d. I cooked and cleaned. I have no reason to complain.

I finally broke down this morning in a fit of tears.

Before my husband hurried out the door at 0630, I asked him to help me stand our mattress on one end so I can get in our room with the steam cleaner as it now smells like mildew. He acted like he didn't have the two minutes to spare. He has a thousand people to worry about and I should be able to handle this …

Like an idiot I started crying. He assisted me but it was like asking him to donate a kidney for some reason. All I wanted was a bit of help - this is a king-sized mattress, I cannot lift it by myself.

I think the pouring rain, muddy floor, soggy carpet, dirty pool, slippery shovel, ringing siren and hermit living gave me a Hugo flashback!

A friend calls this “throwing a Scarlet.” After birthing a baby, fighting off horse thieves, driving through fiery Atlanta Scarlet throws a fit and cries because Rhett wanted to go fight for the cause.

I did, I felt like Scarlet.

My son went to school today but the base is open only to essential personnel. (I'm not essential! Yay!) I have to steam clean the carpet and then spend about $200 at Lowe's to get the material for a twenty-foot French drain, two catch basins and a percolating area. After that I must fix the fence where the mud has seeped to the neighbor and the dogs have dug a hole.

On the bright side, I found muscles I forgot I had, and I have a house, a car, a job, furniture, a child, a husband and four dogs!

After all tomorrow is another day.