It was pretty all last week. Then rain moved in Saturday. We knew this one would be big. By Sunday, May 2, meteorologists were saying this was the wettest May on record. They were also saying we got the highest rainfall since records have been kept. This weather event has interrupted the lives of thousands of people for months to come. The pictures on TV have truly (and hopefully) been once in a lifetime images. This event preempted all regular programming for the weekend. We have gotten 12-18 inches of rain in this area. To put this in perspective, that’s at least 25% of our average annual rainfall in a 48 hour period.
THE EFFECTS OF FLOODING. I don’t want to ignore the damage to residential areas where people lost everything, but there is simply too much to describe. Besides, I’m sure videos on YouTube do a much better job of showing that anyway, but to touch on a few major landmarks: a section of I-24 near Hickory Hollow Mall has been closed because it was under water (there were pictures of a portable from a nearby school floating down the interstate) and many businesses in the area submerged, LP Field where the Titans play is underwater, the new Schermerhorn Symphony Center has experienced considerable damage, there’s water covering the ice where the Predators play hockey, Opryland Hotel and Opry Mills Mall have been flooded and will be months reopening. The saddest part are the 19 reported deaths in Tennessee.
Robertson County really dodged the bullet on this one compared to other areas of Middle Tennessee. For one thing we sit on high ground here atop the Highland Rim where Nashville, Antioch, Lebanon, Franklin, etc., are all down in the Central Basin which makes up the valley surrounding the Cumberland River. We’ve had our flooding and road closures, but nothing in comparison with other areas. I know our fairgrounds are a wreck and Highway 49 between Springfield and Coopertown has been closed as well as many back roads that cross rivers. Customers of the White House Utility District (this includes us) were asked to conserve water yesterday while crews repaired a series of water main leaks. Schools were closed yesterday and again today due to these problems.
IN OTHER NEWS... East Robertson High School is a cool school! We always knew that, but ERHS was featured Friday as Channel 4’s Cool School. Each Friday they feature a cool school during the morning newscast (before the Today show airs). Students who wanted to be part of this broadcast had to be at school by 4:30 that morning (so much for sleep) and they were allowed to leave at 11:30. Jenna went but was not on any of the featured segments on TV. Her school day consisted of one huge pep rally/party while the news crew was there. Since the day was a wash educationally they also got their yearbooks.
BOOKS, THE OTHER CHANNEL. Benton has become a reader. I never would have predicted this -- not even as recently as Christmas. This spring he has become more and more interested in reading a good story and it is not uncommon to see him holed up somewhere with a book. In just the last few weeks Ben has come from behind to have the most Accelerated Reader points in his class.
I had to laugh yesterday when I saw him reading in his room. He had taken their Buzz Lightyear play tent and blocked off a corner of his and Nate’s bedroom and hung a sign on the tent that read “Quiet Place.” When I looked over the tent he was sprawled out on a beanbag with his book.
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE HOOVED KIND. We are so used to walking between our house and Pauline’s house at night we think nothing of going without a flashlight. One recent night I went over there for something and thought I saw a large object about 50 feet out in the wheat field beside my path. Since there was no moon I almost dismissed it as my eyes playing tricks on me, but on the return trip I noticed the object wasn’t there. A few nights later Vicki was walking the same path when she heard something running toward her. Turns out a deer ran across her path about twenty feet in front of her. Now I know my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me.
AUNT HELEN’S FIGHT IS OVER. We got word Thursday night that Aunt Helen passed away. Since Uncle Paul’s death a little over three years ago she had been the last of my father’s siblings left.
The last decade has not been kind to Aunt Helen. Uncle Biddie had been sick and died in 2000. Then Aunt Ruth’s health began to fail and Aunt Helen began to take care of her. In the middle of this, and a few weeks after Ben’s first birthday, Aunt Helen had to have a knee replacement. In early 2002 a staph infection set in and this began a long, slow decline of her health. She was in and out of the hospital a lot back then and some time around 2005 she was no longer able to live at home. Recently Aunt Helen got another nasty infection and she simply wasn’t strong enough to fight it off.
Aunt Helen was always a cut up. She had something going on all the time. If she didn’t make you laugh there was something wrong with you. The thing I admire most about Aunt Helen is that in spite of all the illness she lived through she did her very best to keep a positive attitude and find the joy in life. I don’t think I have the emotional grit to do that if I were in her shoes.
I always liked to go to Aunt Helen’s house because she was so fun. Mom worked at Hancocks Loosefloor when I was in elementary school. When we were out for snow Aunt Helen would be one of the people Mom would ask to keep me for the day. One day I noticed two new pictures in her den. One was of half a barn, cut off on the left, and the other was half a barn, cut off on the right. I told Aunt Helen I thought those were the same barn. She said she didn’t know, but had bought them because she liked them. The next snow day I took my drawing pad to Aunt Helens and we both sat at the kitchen table and sketched those two pictures. I took care to measure my sketches from the original and when I put the two papers together the halves of the barn did match. My complete barn hangs over my computer. Every time I look at it I think about those warm, nurturing, fun times I had with Aunt Helen.
Another time when we had a snow day Aunt Helen went out to get the mail and I locked her out of the house. I stood at the back door and laughed at her for a minute or two before letting her in. She enjoyed me doing that and we laughed about it many times over the years. I fully expect her to shut the gates of Heaven when I get there and laugh at me from inside before letting me in.
Joe
