….and today I feel beaten. I didn’t just wake up feeling that way, you know, how that happens sometimes from dreams? You feel ‘whatever’ and you wake up and for a few hours still feel ‘whatever’ even if you don’t know why or what the dream was about? Well, I woke up feeling slightly stressed, as things have been a little wacko around here lately, but, not overly stressed.

I was having a little trouble getting the boys up and then the storm hit. And oh, what a storm it was! Oh. my. gawd. It was crazy, ya’ll, the lightning and thunder and blowing wind. Just completely nuts. I have a personal policy that I don’t like my children to ride the bus when it’s raining. It’s just my own thing. Mock me if you must. Won’t be the first time. The roads around here scare me – much less wide than I’m used to, being from a big city – and they are SUPER HILLY. I call our neighborhood “Little San Fransisco”. And two of the three kids say they don’t like the bus driver’s driving. And they have to stand out in the rain to wait for the bus. What the hell kind of policy is that? They are not supposed to wait in the doorway and run out there when they see/hear him coming – it’s against the rules. What? So anyway – we drive when it is raining, under normal circumstances.

Normal circumstances would include a working vehicle being available to me. Um, yeah. Poor Maureen, my sweet minivan, is overheating. So she’s convalescing. So I was figuring out how to get a hold of the neighbor kid’s dad, without waking the mom, whose hubby lets her sleep in while he takes kid to school most days. And the thunder was cracking like a futhermucker. We texted the kid’s phone and she didn’t answer. We checked Facebook. Yes, kids get on Facebook before school – believe it Moms, it’s true. Go ahead, tell them not to – when they close the door to ‘change’ – they’re getting on anyway. Heh. But this morning, she wasn’t on there.

Meantime, my precious 120lb. beastly (overgrown baby) dog is practically on my lap, afraid of the storm. God love him!

(Sidenote: Damn, sometimes when I start writing and telling ya’ll a story, I just can’t stop adding in details and making the story too damn long. I’ll wait if you wanna go grab a cup of coffee or something.)

Lisa waits….

Okay, you ready? Where the hell were we? Right, finding a ride for the kids. So I finally decide, hell with it, let’s just call their house phone. I did, they answered. Dad says yes, he’ll pick them up. Groovy. So then we go back to making sure the boys are moving.

And then I think I was on Twitter, but, I know I was sitting in my recliner in the living room, with the dog as RIGHT. BESIDE. ME. as he can get – when …..

One of the biggest claps of thunder I have ever heard!!!! The other one was at my brother’s house in Liberty Hill, TX years ago. And let me tell you – the same damn thing that happened to me then happened to me today. I just happened to be sitting in a recliner then, too. It shocked the living hell out of me SO BADLY that I just about came out of my skin! It’s like a really quick, but, really strong seizure – you know, your whole body lurches violently. Not exactly a good thing for a chronic migraine sufferer. I got a migraine that day and I got one today, too. Dang me.

My daughter was in the kitchen when that lightning hit – and she saw it hit!!! It hit behind our house, about one house down on the woods side of the street. She said there were sparks and it was just crazy. By the time I came running to the window, we could see the smoke and the smoke lasted for a full minute. It hit just around the corner, though, so we aren’t sure what surface it actually hit. I’ve been dying for the rain to quit so I can go investigate. Is there a hole in the road? Or did it smoke so long because it burned a patch of grass? I don’t know.

When the neighbor’s dad came to pick up the kids, he said he was in the shower when it hit and it scared him to death – he totally jumped in the shower. They live two blocks away. He was really surprised when we told him it hit right near our house and Sammie actually saw it!

After all of this, I still wasn’t feeling beaten. Shocked, surprised, floored, wigged out – but, not beaten.

Just before the kids left, though, maybe as they were walking out the door, Patrick tells me that the floor is wet in the basement. It’s happened before and I am pretty sure I know what’s causing it. So I tell them all I love them and goodbye and they go off to school.

(Sidenote: I have to say that I’m starting to hate this post. Weird. I really wanted to write it, I wanted to just get it all out. I think I wear myself out with all of the details, though. I guess – who knows. Think I’ll end it here, leave you hanging, and continue the saga in another post after lunch.)

P.S. Don’t forget to come back to find out how I got pushed all the way down to ‘beaten’…..

P.P.S. UPDATE: Now you can read I Dreamt That I Felt Beaten, Part Two