Tuesday, October 03, 2006

And today's another "normal" day

When you have children, every emotion is magnified. The Joys are so much better. The sadness can be so much worse. But mostly, the fears.... they come more often and usually hit me like a freight train.

Last night, I feared for my life a little. I feared for my husbands life a little. I feared for my children's lives so much my body physically ached.

We spent a lovely evening in Chicago having my favorite meal, cooked by my mom, in honor of my dad's birthday. In the distance we could see dark clouds rolling in and lightening flashing. After the presents and pie, we packed up the kids, in their 'jammies, and headed home. We expected to hit rain. Adam was driving because I'm not good at night, my eyes start to hurt and I get REALLY sleepy. One thing about Chicago though, if you don't live there, is that the tall buildings deceive you on distances. The storm that looked miles away was really just outside the downtown area.

As soon as we hit the highway, the rain starting coming down in sheets. Sheets! Waterfalls! A Deluge! Long story short... our drive home was done entirely in various stages of invisibility. At good times, we could see 50-100 feet in front of the car and we drove about 40 mph. At the worst times we drove less than 10 mph and couldn't see our own headlights through the rain and marble sized hail. We thought about pulling over but two things stopped us.

In the back seat were two little heads, both slumped to the left, pudgy faces sleeping like angels. All we wanted was to get those two little people safely home, into their own beds. I turned around to check on them every time a semi-truck barreled past us. I checked on them after every minor accident we drove past. I spent a long time looking at them after the multiple car pile-up we drove by.

I used to worry about myself if my husband passed. I used to worry about him if something happened to me. Yesterday I worried about our will and our finances and what situation am I leaving my children in.

Am I over-reacting? Yeah, maybe a little. But I'm a mom, I get to over-react anytime I want to if my children are at stake. I guess that over-reacting gets bigger/better/worse too!

3 comments:

Sarah said...

I can't imagine driving through that storm. We were at home and I was worried for our lives. thinking the basement was better then me staring out the window! :)

I worry about what situation we would put our kids in daily. What if I was left to raise them alone? Who would hire me, where would I live, etc. I totally hear ya Joey!
You aren't over-reacting. You are a mom. You are supposed too, unless you wouldn't be a good mom and wife.

Jamie said...

We sat around for awhile, after you left, watching the lightning and I have to admit - it did cross my mind and I was *this close* to calling you and checking in on your progress.

Glad to hear you made it home safely!

Anonymous said...

God I feel this post.

I'm flying with Victor next month to New York and all I can think about is that I have to finish my Will.

I'm pretty much gauranteed to be too worried to enjoy the trip.