It’s been an eventful few days! I found out my little brother had a meeting with a recruitment officer for the Navy, then next thing I know he’s enlisting. My little brother! Ok, so not so little…I mean, he’ll be eighteen next month, but I can’t shake the baby brother image from my head. I am proud of his endeavor to make something of himself, but all I see is the boy with whom I used to play dress-up with and going tobogganing down the snowy hills of winter with. I do hope all goes well for him. I am where I want to be; I wouldn’t want any less for him.
This was how my week-end started. Saturday seemed like it would be relatively normal. We hung out with Dan and Erika for the day. Raymond bought me a digital camera for my birthday while we were out. I wanted a new camera and we’re going on vacation soon, so that is why I got my gift early. It’s so cool ^_^ We purchased the camera at our last stop before parting ways and heading home. There were dark clouds looming in the distance while lightning intermittantly lit up the sky. It was growing darker as we approached home, partly because nighttime was setting in, but mostly because of the impending storm. It grew much worse when we were within 10 miles of home. Fog hung on the air, rain heavily beat upon the ground inhibiting our view of the road, palm trees bent over in the wind while the thunder growled and lightning almost unceasingly illuminated the dark. Raymond dropped me off under the awning but I was still partially soaked, since the rain was falling on a slant. He ended up completely soaked, seeing as he had to park the car and then run inside. I just prayed he didn’t get hit by lightning!
From here, things got even more hectic. The lights flickered, which is a common occurance during a storm, but it was accompanied by a buzzing sort of sound and a loud clap of thunder. Raymond poked his head out the door and saw a group of people congregating at the end of the apartments. He ran out to see what was going on and when he returned informed me that a house was on fire across the street. There was a large orange glow behind the home, which we later found was untouched. It was a transformer on a pole that got hit by lightning instead. However, everytime power surged through the tranformer, our power was effected. Our power kept shutting off and on, or browning out. We decided it would be best to unplug everything, because the electricity was so unstable.
I remained inside, but Ray grabbed his video camera and headed out to capture some footage of the scene. About an hour later, the night sky now completely black, the transformer completely blew. Ray happened to have his video camera fixed on the sight when it exploded, so I got to see the explosion later. It was pretty cool looking. I am glad no one was hurt though. Finally, things died down as the thunderstorm rumbled into the distance. Quite wound from the evening’s events, we decided to relax for a bit before going to bed, though it was late. I called my mom to share what had happened but the phone cut out in the middle of our conversation. That happens when the power is unstable and such, so I was annoyed but shrugged it off. Around eleven "o" clock we had started to prepare for sleep time, but that’s when the power decided to go out for good. We brushed our teeth by candlight, then climbed into bed. It wasn’t until six in the morning that the power was restored. Ray and I both woke up because all the electronics started chirping or making whatever noise they make when they are turned on. Our answering machine always says "To set the time press menu". We took this opportunity to make sure everything was shut off and that our food was okay, then crawled back into bed, exhausted.
Of course, by then, the sun was slowly creeping into the morning sky…but we slept in anyway. Then we celebrated my sister’s birthday with the rest of the family. Swedish meatballs followed by cake. MMM! It was nice to see everyone, but then we returned home because we have a lot to get around for our trip. Oh that trip is playing with my nerves, but I keep giving it back to God. He’ll work it out, I pray. Anyway, that was my week-end. Sometimes eventful isn’t good but God watched over us that evening and He’s watching over my brother as he makes steps towards his future goals. Knowing this is what keeps me sane:)
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