A Meteorological Mantra

“We'll weather the weather, no matter the weather, whether we like it or not.”

As I sit here writing this, it is an unseasonably mild day outside. I actually spent the morning out in our front yard playing with Caiden. We drew pictures with chalk on the brick walkway and kicked a soccer ball around enjoying the sunny skies and temperatures approaching 50 degrees. Balmy? No. But definitely not your typical January morning. The weather-report was no surprise to me. As a lifelong New Englander, I never invest much in what the meteorologists predict. And this past year—well, I don’t think that anyone could foresee what the past 6 months have brought our way with regard to the elements. Yes, it was a beautiful moment, with my beautiful child, on a beautiful day and yet I couldn’t help but think of how unlikely and unexpected the forecast was. And then I thought about how residents of this area deserved a day like this based on how Mother Nature has treated us this past year. As a watched Caiden beat the side of a large tree with a small stick (What is it with boys finding this activity so enthralling?), I wondered if in 2012 I would utter an old proverb that I so often repeated in 2011. “We'll weather the weather, no matter the weather, whether we like it or not”…

It began in June when a series of tornadoes ripped through the area. At 3 o’clock on the afternoon of June first, Dan received a call from work ordering him early as they needed backup because due to tornado warnings. Whatever—overtime was overtime. We kinda laughed it off thinking that a tornado hitting Western Massachusetts was a bit of a ridiculous notion. To keep myself occupied during those early hours of him being gone, I watched the news coverage and I will NEVER forget seeing the actual tornado touch down in Springfield live

on CBS. It was absolutely surreal. As Brandon Butcher made “small talk” of unconfirmed viewer sightings in Westfield, the CBS 3 camera on top of Monarch Place documented the first funnel cloud working its’ way over West Springfield and across the North End Bridge, churning up water from the Connecticut River, flipping a tractor trailer over, stopping traffic completely, and twist its’ destructive way through the South End. The camera never lost focus, getting hit by debris, and panning left to follow the tornado’s path. Then the cyclone made a sharp right making its’ way towards us. The sight left me breathless, my heart pounding, and a quiet prayer left my lips as I prayed that no one would be hurt. And then the relative silence was broken by Brandon Butcher’s command that “If you live in East Longmeadow, seek shelter NOW as the tornado is heading your way.” GULP. I held Caiden a little tighter. Our home phone rang and it was Dan. Frantically, he shouted for me to make sure that I grabbed Caiden and headed to our basement—the tornado was sighted in the north end of our town. As a first responder, he had to hang up immediately and head in that direction himself. It was the last that heard from him for hours. The power then cut out—causing us to lose light, cable, and our landline. Luckily, we were all safe and the only damage that our area of town saw was some downed branches and various pieces & parts of others’ homes transported by a giant debris cloud that blew over. We were out of power for 3 days, but that loss paled in comparison to the devastation that others’ incurred as a result of that storm. During those hours of quiet and darkness, though, I desperately tried to keep Caiden entertained with games of flashlight tag and stories by candlelight and heard myself saying, “We'll weather the weather, no matter the weather, whether we like it or not.”

Then, in August, Hurricane Irene paid us a little visit. Amongst the heavy rains and brutal winds, she decided to flood our backyard and take a hunk of our roof with her as a souvenir. As we went back & forth with insurance adjusters and I tried to explain to Caiden day after day that he couldn’t go outside because he risked drowning in the small ravine that developed out back, again I heard myself repeating with a little less conviction, “We'll weather the weather, no matter the weather, whether we like it or not.”

A few months later, just as we were beginning to adjust to life with 3-week-old Ryan, our home was hit again by another storm. This time it was a Nor’easter in October. Although it wasn’t the most snow that this area has seen, the untimely squall dumped enough of the white stuff to down 100-year-old trees that had yet to lose their fall foliage. The trees, in turn, took down the power lines and, again, we were out of electricity—this time for seven days. Huddled in our basement once more, this time to reap the benefits of the only heat source available, I found myself chanting (through gritted teeth), “We'll weather the weather, no matter the weather, whether we like it or not.” This time this mantra was a much harder pill to swallow. We were living off of a diet consisting of peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and cold Chef Boyardee from a can. Our only light source came from the 3 Yankee candles we had burning—none of which were the same scent (just remembering the combination of Macintosh and Clean Cotton makes my throat want to close up). It was becoming increasingly more difficult to keep Caiden entertained especially because I had a newborn in my arms at all times. We were quickly running out of clean clothes, food, creative ideas, and, most of all, patience. That week I learned that I could never have survived being a pioneer…

I think that it is safe to say that the storms of 2011 brought out the worst in Mother Nature, but, at times, they also brought out the best in humankind. As soon as power was restored, phone lines were set ablaze as everyone called everyone they knew to ensure their safety. My 16-year-old neighbor took it upon himself to deliver food & water to residents and volunteers on Pennsylvania Avenue (one of the hardest hit areas of Springfield during the tornadoes). To thank our neighbors across the street for cooking us some warm meals during the October snowstorm, we gave them all of our firewood. Benefits were organized, shelters were erected, prayers were raised, neighbors looked out for one another, strangers became friends, and, somehow, we all came through with a little bit more character and a whole lot of stories to share.

So this beautiful, unseasonable January day brought back some not-so-distant memories. Some good, some less than desirable. It makes me wonder what the winter months have in store for us in 2012. Perhaps a heat wave in February or a tsunami in March? Nonetheless, forecasts aside, I am confident that we will prevail and can “weather the weather no matter the weather.” Besides, while watching my little guy whack the large maple out front with that stick, I can’t help but smile to myself and even smirk with a little confidence. I now consider myself to be an expert on some of the good things that can come unexpectedly or out of order… ; )