Windy

The anticipation is killing you, so I will just let you know what today's song is.

Who remembers this song?  Although it was written in 1967 and performed by The Association, it seems like it still played on the radio from my childhood.  I'm shocked that it was playing in my head this morning, but this is I why I have a blog, eh?

In an odd coincidence, what with the title of this song being called "Windy," exactly a year ago tomorrow, two very interesting things happened to our family. 

The first was an enormous wind storm that passed through our city.  This is strange for Utah.  The winds started, by my memory, at about 2:00 A.M. on the 1st of December.  I didn't go back to sleep as I ran from room to room trying to comfort scared kids and light candles.  Our power shut on and off throughout the night.  I knew that it was very windy, but didn't know the extent of the damage until the sun rose. 

In another odd coincidence, I was searching for images of this wind storm online and found a video of some damage.  The video happens to be filmed by my neighbor who lives 2 doors down.  This is probably boring to most, but I'm gonna post the video anyway.  If anything, maybe my great great grand kids will watch this some day if the world hasn't ended, or if they haven't disowned the family.  I guess I'm saying you won't hurt my feelings if you don't watch this video. 

Anyway, what I'm getting at, is that I have never been through anything like this in my life.  In the morning, while the wind was still blowing, I drove around my neighborhood and it looked like a war zone.  There were trees everywhere that had fallen, some onto cars, and some even into windows. 










Further complicating things for my family was the fact that my dear wife was 9 months pregnant at the time!  Not only was she pregnant, she was also very sick and to have no power in the cold winter brought some challenges for us on this day. 

Miraculously, except for a glass door that I hated anyway (it shattered) there was no damage to our home, yard, trees, fences- anything.  Everybody else I know in the community was not as lucky. 

So, with the house in tact, I took pregnant wifey poo and the kids to a hotel, where there would be heat and warm water. 

I'm proud of you if you're still with me. 

So, long story short, the following day, December 2nd, our boy was born.  He came with the wind, and his coming into the world, like the wind, was exciting and frightening.  After nearly 10 days in the NICU, and a crippling shoulder injury, we brought our boy home on oxygen.  It was a rough few weeks, but ultimately he pulled through and is a perfect as a kid could be. 

Happy Birthday, Jude.  It's been an amazing, and exhausting year, and I look forward to many more.