Today I Earned My “I Survived the Great Colorado Floods” T-Shirt! [Sometimes it takes a little bit of bad to make you remember the huge amount of wonderful!]

Jelly Bean and I drove on this road this morning. Right over this spot.

flood

 Don’t worry, the news reported that everyone made it out alive and with only minor injuries. Phew.

And now it’s gone.

Sure it was raining – and raining harder than it had in 500 years* – but I thought it would be a great morning to spend digging through the thrift store’s new-old Halloween offerings looking for more dress-up clothes for Jelly Bean’s play box. (Because what is more fun than buying poofy frilly dresses for my girl?! Especially when it was a blue-tag clearance sale and they were all like $2!) Through a trick of fate or GPS, we went home via a different route – for which I cannot say enough little prayers of gratitude. I didn’t see this picture until tonight and so I didn’t even know how closely we’d dodged this bullet but I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

Later today, I had all four of my kids in the ol’ single-hubcapped minivan (it’s a Toyota Sienna like every other mom’s but I can’t always tell mine from the huge dent in the door and the occasional divulgence of dirty undies both literally and figuratively) as we headed out to piano lessons, a mere 5 miles away. I headed out the normal way only to be turned back by a police officer – the main road was washed out. So I took the back way. Only to be confronted with an epic river. Had I not known there was a road there before I would never have believed it.

“Gun it, mom!” my second son yelled.

“I think we should turn around,” my cautious first son said.

“THIS IS SO COOL!!!” my third son yodeled, as I decided that risking the water was safer than trying the hill behind me.

“I want candy!” Jelly Bean screamed, clearly mistaking the energy for a party.

We made it through, albeit quite late. I was white knuckled and my heart was pounding from trying (not to) imagine how I’d get all four of my babies out of their carseats/belts and out of the car if we had toppled over into the raging river. And then we slogged home, taking nearly an hour to go 5 miles because every single road into my neighborhood was washed out at some point, requiring a labyrinthine grasp of spatial reasoning. Which, as I’m sure you remember, I have none of. I get lost in a paper bag. I finally gave up when I found a McDonald’s with a playland and called my husband to come find us.

Good news: None of my kids lost a shoe in the playland! This has got to be a first for our family.

Bad news: I stress-ate a whole container of cold French fries and I don’t even like fries. Or cold. Also, we found this out when we got home

flood2

This is the canyon just up the road from us. My husband rides his bike here. This is where we often go hiking.

Worse news: And then I found out an hour ago that because of “excess dam spillage” (Damn spillage! Sorry. Someone had to say it.) they’re evacuating everyone from just four blocks away from us on down. There’s a big hill between us and the dam though so I think we’re safe?

(Plus, September 11 marks the anniversary of my sweet daughter’s death. She would have been twelve this year. Anniversaries are hard.)

So now I’m doing what everyone should do in a potential emergency – avoiding doing my real work (can’t focus!!) and obsessively checking social media for updates on the flooding. Thank you Internet for not going out…much!

Please understand, I’m NOT complaining. We are warm and dry tonight. Our sump pump (how did that not make it into Sir. Mix-a-lot’s masterpiece??) is running 24/7 but our basement is dry. My kids are safe. My car did not drown despite my idiot driving. We still have clean water and electricity. And – wonder of wonders – school is not cancelled tomorrow. I am blessed beyond comprehension.

Sometimes you know when you’ve missed catastrophe by a hair’s breadth. Most of the time you don’t though. You keep going on your merry, mundane way, completely oblivious to the lives changing around you. I’m sure it happens more than we know. But I’m glad this happened because sometimes I need to be reminded how fragile we all are so I can appreciate the miracle of our continued survival.

hiking

Especially weird since just a week ago it was record-breaking heat we were dealing with. Hiking Red Rocks in 100-degree weather!

Have any of you ever juuuuust missed being in something disastrous? Any disaster prep advice? (My sister, who lives in one of the hardest hit areas, is currently scrubbing out her bathtubs and filling them with water, as a backup. Which sounds very smart and reasonable and totally not something I’d ever think to do on my own… Stay safe tonight, little sis!)

*Not even exaggerating. That’s what the news said. Some places got 7 inches of rain in ONE HOUR.

20 Comments

  1. Charity Froggenhall

    In August 2003, I was working in Manhattan. I came home early; I’d taken the afternoon off for a doctor’s visit. Missed being in the NYC blackout by about 3 hours!

  2. Definitely tubs of water. One for drinking water sure (though if you have a Brita you can run it through that still) but if you lose water, you want the others to be able to flush your toilet (using a scoop to manually add water to the tank). Or wash hands, bird bath, etc.
    if you think you’ll lose power, and are relying on canned goods, make sure you have a manual can opener. Never hurts to have extra ice either (put some in bowls while your power is on).
    Aaaaaand most people these days have cell phones instead of landlines. If you think you might lose power, especially in a disaster, make sure yours has as much battery as possible and use it sparingly. If you still own a landline phone and don’t pay for the service, you can still plug it in and dial 911 (as long as you have power or its an older corded model). Landline wires tend to hold out better than cell towers in a hurricane-don’t know about flooding.

  3. Wow, that’s some major floodage!

    A long time ago hubby and I were on the freeway (he was driving) when a car on the other side jumped the divider, bashed into the car in front of us, swerved around my side of the car, then bashed into the car behind us and flipped over in a fireball, causing a couple more cars to swerve and crash. We were totally unscathed in the midst of a demolition derby.

  4. Holy crap, Charlotte. I forgot that’s where you moved, so I’m so grateful for the update and the fact that you guys are totally safe. I have friends that live there as well and it’s absolutely terrifying, made even more so when you realize how close you were to being a part of a natural disaster.

    I have no great words of advice other than you guys are in my thoughts and prayers, not just for the current events but for the remembrance of the anniversary and every day going forward (and because you survived a McDonald’s play land–a Petri dish for disease.) 😉

  5. It’s insane all this water. We have lived in Colorado for 12 years and never seen anything like this. We are south of downtown and higher so things here aren’t bad but my husband works in Aurora and certain roads there are now rivers. I am sorry about all the stresses of yesterday. I would bet you were already feeling fragile with the anniversary of your little one’s passing so a natural disaster on top of that would drive anyone to eat fries. Hell, I would’ve thrown a Quarter Pounder in there too. Stay dry today and I promise you, Colorado really is a lovely place most of the time.

  6. We had a flood in July here and it was scary. Like you, I stopped working and checked their internet for update obsessively. People were getting evacuated all around us and we were very lucky to be able to stay where we were. Mother nature can be very scary indeed.
    Also, I’m sorry that this stress is added to the anniversary of the passing of your daughter. Hang in there

  7. I’m so glad you’re okay, Charlotte. Hopefully you’ll get a chance to express your thanks by having some sort of opportunity to comfort or help out those who have been affected. Emergency situations really can bring out the best of human nature in our communities. I’m always so grateful to our SES (State Emergency Service) volunteers who do so much amazing work to help complete strangers in all the storm/fire/flood/name-your-disaster emergencies that seem to crop up regularly here.

  8. I was in college in southern California for some of the worst fires in decades. They closed our entire campus for a week and it looked like the end of the world with ash falling from the sky, people in masks, and the sun being bright red through the smoky haze. Ugh. I still shudder thinking about it. That kind of thing can be traumatizing.

    What I’m trying to say is, so glad to hear you all are safe and sound! Running water on the roads can be so, so dangerous (and I say that as someone who’s lived in flood-prone areas and hurricane pathways).

    • I was in SoCal at the time, as well. It was apocalyptic! I was pregnant with my daughter at the time, and couldn’t go outside.

  9. I’ve been thinking about you guys (and my brother-in-law who lives in Boulder. Luckily, he’s been in San Diego the past few days). So glad to hear you are OK.
    Stay safe & dry!

  10. I’m so glad that you guys are safe. I’ve missed disaster a few times, one time sticks out in my memory above all others. It’s a humbling experience.

  11. I might think about filling my bathtubs, but I’m sure it wouldn’t occur to me to scrub them out first.

  12. Glad you are all safe and dry. And never, never, never drive across a flooded road again, dear. I’m sure you know that though. I am also sending hugs your way for the anniversary of your loss. That date is such a bittersweet one for me, my second son’s life began on that date, while so many others lost theirs….As far as natural disasters, I’ve weathered major blizzards, and a tornado, but my parents lived through the flooding in Duluth last spring, in which 7-9 inches of rain fell in a couple of hours, evoking similar images as the ones you’ve posted. That’s the flood that killed so many of the zoo animals and allowed others to escape…There are still roads closed after a year over there.
    Stay safe and warm and dry.

  13. I was watching footage of the flooding at the Hoity Toity Health Club this morning and hoping you were okay. And no, you are not coming off as whining. If anything, I hear your gratitude to be safe. Been there when a tree branch crash landed on my windshield on a gorgeous September evening almost 2 years ago… I get it.

    Hang tight. Stay dry and for goodness sake, woman! Stop driving through water if you can’t see the road! It ain’t safe and there are a lot of us who think you make up an important element of our lives.

  14. The day after we had a big event in a lodge up where my Dad lives the roof collapsed due to excess snow. We all felt very blessed that noone was in the lodge and that the clean up crew had decided to take it easy and start cleaning later in the day afterwards. It was a mess, but noone was hurt. It has a new roof by now…
    Stay safe!

  15. I am just happy you are all safe!!!! The news stories are devastating!

  16. You’re only an ocean liner and an iceberg away from earning your Unsinkable Belt. Keep plugin’.

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  18. My mom was on her first motorcycle trip, going through Colorado, when the flooding started. Thankfully, they made it through the state before their planned route was impacted. Glad you and your family are safe!