Day 5 – Part 1
The first thing we did when we woke up was turn on the TV to see if there was any news about Ernesto. Luck was on our side because it appeared to be nothing serious and we weren’t in any danger. Nor did we have to worry about being locked in our room for the day.
Off Topic: I’m adding this in for my American readers who probably don’t see any Canadian news. The biggest disaster we have experienced living in Canada was the great ice storm of 1998. We had 3 or 4 days in a row of freezing rain in early January. The build up of ice on our trees and hydro lines was disastrous. We lost power to our home on the first day and since we didn’t own a wood stove at that time, I remember being all bundled up in my winter coat and boots trying to keep warm hoping for the power to return. I called my husband at work to ask him to come home before the roads became worse. He told me there were accidents all over the place and agreed that he would leave as soon as he could. While I waited for him, our local radio station announced that the school buses would not be running and to go pick up your children from school. I started to panic because I knew there was no way I would be able to pick up my girls because we live on a private road that isn’t maintained by the town. I bundled up some more and headed outside to start the truck hanging on to anything around me to keep from falling. Everything was coated with sheets of ice. After falling several times on my way to the truck, I hopped inside and proceeded out the driveway. I went nowhere. The truck just kept sliding from side to side. It was hopeless and I began to cry because I knew my daughters were waiting for me to come and get them.
I called Prince Grumpy and explained the situation to him. He told me to calm down and to call my father to go and get them and to bring them to their house. He said it was going to take him hours to make it home. This worried me even more because my father hates driving in any kind of bad weather. He listens to the weather station regularly and if there is any prediction of snow he won’t leave the house. He refuses to drive in snowy weather, even if it’s just a few centimeters so I had my doubts that he would venture out in freezing rain to pick up his grandchildren. However, I was wrong. He was as concerned as I was and told me to stay put until Grumpy came home. He promised to call me when he returned with them. Ten minutes passed and I called my mother. There was still no sign of him. She said he had a hard time just making it down their street but that she would call me as soon as he got back. Thirty minutes passed and I still had no phone call. I was really starting to worry about all three of them. Finally, 45 minutes later, (a trip that should have taken no more than 5 minutes) my mother called to tell me that they were back. He told her that the roads were very dangerous and to make sure I had told Prince Grumpy to come home now.
It got so cold in my house that I could see my breath. I decided to curl up in my bed to keep warm and wait for my prince to come and rescue me. I don’t remember exactly how long it took him to get home but it was near dinnertime when he finally arrived. He had to park his truck at the start of our road and walk the rest of the way on foot. He said we couldn’t stay at our house or we’d freeze and called his parents in the city. They told him that they also lost power and were keeping warm by the fireplace. Fortunately my parents had power and invited us to come for dinner and wait out the storm at their place. That wait turned out to be 13 long whole days!!!
After our first night of sleeping at my parents, I called the office only to find out the work was shut down for the time being. Woohoo – that was pretty exciting at first – a few days off work but let me tell you, after being out on your own for 9 years and then having to move back in with your parents is no fun treat. Near the end of the power outage I was praying to go back to work. Don’t get me wrong, I was grateful to my parents and thankful we didn’t have to move into a shelter but I was insanely bored and was going crazy and felt trapped back in time living at home. My parents aren’t animal lovers like us but they agreed to let our dog stay with us at their place as long as we kept him in the basement. However, I had to bring our cat to a friends place to wait out the storm.
The Army arrived in our town around the third day and went door to door in the country to check on the elderly. Shelters were set up everywhere. Something like 30 people died from hypothermia, over half a million people had to leave their homes and almost 1000 were injured. Over 4 million Canadians lost power in that storm and some for as long as three weeks.
End of off topic story.
Being unfamiliar with disasters and hurricanes, my daughters were still frightened by Ernesto. Prince Grumpy and I decided it might be a good morning to go to Epcot since it was raining but both girls asked if they could stay in the room and watch TV by themselves. Looking back now, I realize they made this decision because they were afraid to go out. DH went out for our morning drinks and snacks and said we could talk about it when he came back.
When Prince Grumpy came back with our drinks, he surprised the girls with this:
My little nature lovers played with this little guy for the next 30 minutes waiting for our decision. We agreed they could stay behind as long as they didn’t leave the room while were gone. DH and I packed up some gear and headed out for Epcot on our own. While standing at the bus stop I asked, “Do you think they will be okay?” While sitting on the bus, I asked “Are you sure they will be fine?” When arriving at Epcot I asked, “Do you think we should go back?” DH finally said “Look, we won’t stay long, we’ll be back by noon, I’m sure they will be alright!”
Epcot was practically empty. There was no one in line to see the characters and I was disappointed the girls didn’t join us. First we went on Spaceship Earth. It was an interesting ride but my mind was on my DD’s. We then walked around innoventions, which I found kind of boring and knew the kids would have agreed with me. The only fun I had there was sending an email to my father and my in-laws.
After that we headed over to the living seas. This I enjoyed and couldn’t wait to bring the girls to see. We spent over an hour there and took all kinds of crazy pictures through the glass.
Before leaving we found a quiet spot and had a rest. It was here that Prince Grumpy caught a lizard. Woohoo! I couldn’t wait to get back and show JoJo and Goofy (not because I was worried….really….ha-ha). DH put the tiny baby lizard in his bag and we left Epcot.
On our way back to the resort on the bus, we were both very quiet and I started thinking about my mother. I thought about all the wonderful stories I could tell her about our trip and then her passing hit me hard. I kept my head down as I felt the silent tears roll down my cheeks. Prince Grumpy put his arm around me and gave me a squeeze. I love him so much for knowing what was wrong without having to ask.
We arrived back at our resort at 12:00 and went straight to our room to show the lizard to the girls.
Coming up – Day 5 – Part 2 – Spending time at the resort
I'm not so sure the free dining is worth it afterall.
