I woke up on Saturday morning around 4:00 am, already anxious. I snatched my phone off the charger and went straight to WRAL Weather, then checked other weather sights across the internet. All I could glean was that Ophelia was headed our way. It appeared we'd only get the outer bands but still, my almost 98 year old mom and I had appointments for our COVID vaccines and flu shots and I was worried.
Why not just reschedule? Well, I bit my lip and thought hard about it. We had already booked appointments at the local Walgreens on Thursday, only to receive a call the day before telling us they were out of vaccine. That we could try again next week.
I could totally cancel our appointments. But, then again, Mom has a lung condition that makes her very vulnerable to anything lung-related. We'd nearly lost her after she contracted COVID early in the year in the Duke ED. And by Jove, I wanted to get it done. So I had found and booked a group apointment at a CVS near the Triangle.
It's just rain, my husband said. Right? I'd had Mom out in the rain before. We wouldn't melt.
So we had breakfast and I watched the clock nearing our 12:00 pm appointment time.. There was only a light sprinkle of rain and a gentle rain. We got this!
Except, as I rolled Mom in her wheelchair to the bathroom for a final stop, the power went out!
I uttered an expletive that if spoken in my dad's earshot would have me landed me promptly in my room. An expletive that I looked up in my dictrionary as a 13 year old becasue I found it in a book. An expletive that in 1973 wasn't even printed in the dictionary because THE HORROR. Its "u" was politely replaced by an asterick.
It's okay, Husband said, the lift has a battery. My anxiety didn't listen.
As I headed with Mom back to the garage door, bundled in raincoat and hat, Husband said, "You know, we forgot the power would take the garage door opener out."
EXPLETIVE!
So we entered the darkened garage, experimentally pulled on a dangling red cord, and husband manually lifted the door. Back to plan. I took over the door-holding duty as there is a lip in our garage door that I find impossible to maneuver Mom's wheelchair over.. I felt like Atlas holding up the world.
But we got her out and tranferred into the car in the gentle rain. Phew! The drive was uneventful and I arrived, wheeled into a handicap spot, transferred Mom into her wheelchair. But,
EXPLETIVE!
The pin holding her wheelchair handle was gone and the chair crumbled in on itself on one side. I adopted a hunchback stance, holding the arm in one hand and the handle in the other and we trundled into CVS and into towards the pharmacy.
We checked in and after a brief wait, were each treated towards a COVID vaccine in our left arms and a flu shot in our right. And then I received a text from Husband. Our power was on! I texted back PRAISE GOD!
After we thanked the pharmacist profusely, we rolled on back to the door and one more time I uttered the EXPLETIVE again, but not as loudly. (There is something positive to be said about Mom's hearing loss.)
It was raining buckets. Just pouring down. Raindrops in between raindrops and a brisk wind. Umbrella? Sure I had one! In the back of the car!
But Mama ain't no quitter. She is the epitome of perseverance. One of her sayings was "You just have to push!" and that has helped her see her way to her golden years. And Mama didn't raise no quitter.
So off we went, in the pouring rain, huddled under raincoats and hats, me pushing a broken wheelchair.
And when we got to the handicapped spaces?
EXPLETIVE!
A river of water ran right underneath our Flex. There was no way around, only through. So I waded in and wrestled Mom back into the car, stowed the wheelchair and jumped in!
PRAISE GOD!
Despite the monsoon, we headed to the nearest Chik-fil-a, where we found a quickly moving line and cheerful attendents fully embaracing the bad weather. They efficiently took, prepared, and completed our order and soon we were on our way home, windshield wipers set to MAX, Mom clutching a well deserved chocolate milkshake!
As I pulled into the drive, the garage door opened and Husband appeared to help me get Mom in the house. PRAISE GOD! And as we deployed the wheelchair, we found the missing pin in our driveway. PRAISE GOD! And in no time, Mom was in her room, changed into dry clothes, drinking her milkshake with her feet up. PRAISE GOD.
And me? I prayed a silent prayer for all the mercies I had been given. And while Mom watched TV, cosy, dry, and happpy as a clam, I finally exhaled deeply, released my anxiety, and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep on the spare twin bed in her room.
PRAISE GOD!
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:29-30.
