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A Night To Remember
On Wednesday evening, June 23 our son Mike and his wife Monica were en route from Albany, New York to spend a few days with us. The sirens began to wail just as the phone rang.
“We’re in Sun Prairie, Mom,” Mike said. “We’ll see you soon.”
Monica’s sister lives in Sun Prairie. I suggested they check the weather on TV. “We’re on tornado alert and the storm is heading our way. You might want to stay where you are until morning.”
“We’ll give it a try, and see how far we get,” Mike insisted.
I hung up, headed downstairs and turned on the television, but in a few minutes the screen went black as the power went out. The wind rushing through the yard sounded like a jet engine. Through the window, I saw our venerable oak trees swaying back and forth like saplings. Broken branches were crashing and bouncing on the roof. It felt like a bombing raid.
And suddenly all was quiet until the rains came, a torrential downpour.
When it was finally over, the neighbors gathered in our driveway to view the aftermath and compare notes. All our yards were littered with debris several feet deep. Utility poles had snapped and wires dragged on the ground. Broken trees sprawled from curb to curb barricading Hilltop Drive. Shattered glass from our next door neighbor’s enclosed deck was strewn over both our yards. A giant fallen oak had crushed the pickup truck parked in our backyard neighbor’s driveway. In the next block, another neighbor’s attached garage was now detached.
Mike and Monica arrived about an hour later. Somehow they had managed to find a zigzag route around the blocked streets as far as the corner of Ames and Hilltop, then hiked the rest of the way to our house.
The next morning brought a whirlwind of activity as the cleanup began. A chilly rain added to the misery. Our visitors cheerfully joined the crew, hauling load after load of downed branches to the curb. Chainsaws buzzed non-stop, dawn to dusk. We watched in awe as the utility crews struggled to untangle the wires, climbing high in the sky to remove shattered tree limbs. Everyone cheered when the lights came on again, 48 hours after the storm. We took a welcome day off on Saturday to attend a family reunion in Sheboygan.
Our guests departed on Monday morning. Mike’s parting comment summed up the experience: “Wow, that was some vacation!”
-- Anne Short
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