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| Before the storm |
Thunderstorms
roll into San Antonio rarely during the long, hot summers. Wind thrashes tree
branches, clouds darken to silvery gray, and lightning strikes shake the
ground. Sometimes descending without warning, these fast-moving storms dump
deluges that flashflood our neighborhoods. Other times, they swirl and spin in
place providing a spectacular show.
Copyright 2022 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman
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| Before new color choice |
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| After new color! |
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| First cabin trip in years! |
For our household,
our shift back into social gatherings never slipped back into pre-pandemic
contact. By the end of May, we wearied of criticism because we still “wore
Pampers” on our faces. Fatigue over battling anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers made
us retreat back into our words, music and art.
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| February's freeze |
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| Snow and ice in February |
I wrestled with
Sunday Night Anxiety for many years when I taught. I paced the house snarling
at anyone who crossed my field of vision. Some evenings I cried because I didn’t
want to go to work the next day. Once I retired, this overblown unease
retreated into the background, resurfacing for “special” occasions like doing
income taxes or handling unexpected car malfunctions. Worry dogged me whenever Perfection’s
crown slipped. Making simple mistakes drove me crazy, even when no one else knew
about my blunder.
Waltzing with worry
meant I weighed my thought processes constantly whenever stress strode into my
day. With COVID-19 looming daily in the background, I meticulously measured my “Danger!
Danger, Will Robinson!” warnings. By March of 2021, getting all of us
vaccinated motived my days. I strategized an attack that resulted in booking appointments
for both my husband and me within the first days of our eligibility. Beginning
midnight of the designated date, I rotated through Walgreens, CVS, Walmart,
HEB, and the UT Health sites in fifteen minute intervals. This technique worked
again the next week when my son’s age group gained eligibility. By the end of
March, all three of us had received the first shot of Pfizer.
Other Life ripples resolved during March, too. Our 2019 income taxes, buried under a pile of unprocessed forms at the IRS, finally got processed. Our rough-running car came out of its repair running like new. Our yard and gardens, frozen into submission in February, reemerged with subtle hope.
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| March's Hope |
Rebirth and Regrowth
Copyright 2022 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman
The ice and snow that
froze Texas into place in mid-February of 2021 skipped over our house snuggled
safely among a police station, fire station, and hospital. Survivor’s guilt
blanked my days as I watched family and friends struggle with rolling
black-outs, or even losing electricity for several days.
Before the storm hit, I fretted over the phone with my sister over our brother, Charles, driving to work in his ancient car because he’d never driven on snow or ice before. Finally, I called him and talked him into going into work ahead of the storm. The hospital has given him a room or cot in the past when hurricanes swirl in the Gulf. I begged him to see if they would let him stay one night.
When he called to let
me know he would go in well before the bad weather hit, I reminded him to leave
water running in his kitchen and bathroom sinks. He laughed since my sister had
just given him the exact same instructions.
None of us predicted
that the freezing temperatures would cascade the entire state into a collapsing
grid nightmare that plummeted households and businesses into darkness and cold
for many days.
Charles didn’t return to his house for a couple of days, and when he did, it was to find the pipe in his master bathroom had burst. The water cascaded down from the ceiling, with the deluge flooding almost every room in his home. He ran next door and a neighbor helped him turn off the water. Then he made a frantic call to my sister, as both she and her husband were already fully vaccinated for COVID-19 and live about ninety minutes away. My sister reached me (my phone service was spotty due to the storm) to get the name of the plumber my brother uses. She left urgent messages on his voicemail, texts, and email! Her diligence paid off because the plumber had Charles second on his list. The burst pipe was replaced within days.
My sister also found
a general contractor who ripped out the saturated carpet within a few days.
This contractor went through the house with expert care, itemized every repair,
and sent a detailed report to the insurance company. Within days, my brother
knew how much money he’d receive. He and the contractor spent a couple of days
selecting new tile floors, vanities for the bathroom and other odds-n-ends to
reassemble my brother’s home.
The speed in getting Charles’s house repaired ground to a halt since thousands of homes and businesses in Texas overloaded lumber yards and home improvement stores with orders. Something as common as sheetrock became a backordered item that didn’t appear until April. Eventually, and slowly, the contractor healed Charles’s damaged home.
Last night, Charles
called to chat about the freezing temperatures that aim our way again. His
joked that his new tile floors can handle any water that may come his way!
Copyright 2022 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman
