swhooooooosssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhh

it wasn't loud.
you woulda thought it would be really loud.

it was just odd.
a SWOOOOSSSSHHHHHHH.

'did you hear that??' i asked.

'it was just water.' he answered.

'water???' i shook my head and got up.

looked out by my car. nothing.
looked in the front yard. nothing.

looked out my kitchen door.

woe.

woe.

woe.

there was a huge tree resting sideways in front of my shed,
across a good part of the yard.

woe.

i ran and got my wellies.

it was raining and really wet.

grabbed my jacket, slipped it on and ran out.

i just stood there staring at it.

it was so odd looking.
and for some reason it just gave me the feeling
of a gigantic snake. it was wet and shimmery.
just bizarre looking.

couldn't tell if it got the shed or not.
it certainly smashed the picnic table.

noah and i had JUST moved the picnic table over there.
completely smashed now.
that's okay.
we were gonna smash it ourselves.
get rid of it.

the smashing was now complete.
i grinned and thought of how fun it would be to tell the guys.
we'd been goin' back and forth over getting rid of that thing.
now it was decided.

what about the shed???
i was gonna crawl under and look.
mmmmmmm......i looked at the big trunk resting
on another tree that it had completely broken and on
my neighbor's fence.

mmmmmm......maybe not.
that prolly would be pretty bad if it fell again.

as i stood there considering all this, my neighbor
came over to check it all out. it was his tree.
his wife hollered from their porch over the fence,
and bob wandered out.

after climbing around, i could see everything was really
okay, checking their yard, they had a similar looking
thing goin' on.

it was a two trunk tree, must be over 100 years old and
it just split in two. one went my way, one theirs.

and nothing got hurt.

well.....a few other trees got taken out.
like match sticks.

but no buildings, no cars, and of course, no people.

the feeling was of complete gratitude.

bob was sayin' to the neighbor that it was incredible
nothing got hit and we were all so lucky.

i thought of a study that the boys were tellin' me about
awhile ago. about people who lived with gratitude.
this was the exact kinda situation they'd give as an example.
a huge tree falls and smashes into your yard. you lose that
gorgeous tree, about three or four other trees, a few minor
holes in your shed, major clean up ahead and you say
'wow we are so lucky!'

that's a person who lives with gratitude.

i smiled when i heard him say it.
cause i had been standing there thinking the exact same thing.

i told my neighbor no worries, i could live with a tree there
for as long as it took and i'm just so grateful we're all okay.

over in his yard, his wife brought out the camera for insurance pictures.
'honey, get over by the tree.' he told her.
i grinned.
'terri, you get in there with her too.'
i outright laughed.
went over put my arm around her and we smiled into the camera.
nothin' like a tourist spot, i thought.

that night, before the guys landed to visit, i gathered some
food, made it all pretty and set up the coffee table in the living
room like a 'real gathering.'

sitting on the couch watching, he commented on it.

'it's a 'thank good we're all alive' celebration.' i told him.

we schemed at how we'd tell the guys about the tree.
when they had left in the morning, we all were in the room saying we'd
gather that nite and each would have a story to tell. we were
to look for the story of the day and bring it home.

when we had come in from looking at the tree earlier i turned to bob and
said 'tree's my story, bud. i get that one.' and laughed.

we had it all planned out on how to tell them.
of course, it banked on noah backing in when they pulled in. so
they wouldn't see.
he usually backs in. we were bankin' on it.....

nope.
in they walked.
WOE! did you see what's in the back yard??!!

and the stories began immediately.

they sat around the food and drinks and noticed the extra fuss.

i told them it was a 'thank god we're all alive' party.

so we sat and shared stories and snacked and sipped and there
wasn't one moment that went by that i forgot how incredibly
lucky we all were....