Home Again It's True

So I was all worried for nothing and figured out what to wear. :-)

The four days at home were all I could have asked for and more. Rob and I left late afternoon on Thursday night and arrived just before Mom was ready for bed. We chatted and went to bed ourselves since we had to be up early to go to the high school. Poor Robbie was such a trooper; he woke up at 6 AM just for me (a time neither us see often being in college...) and in the pouring rain (thank you, Ike) went over to Ross High School. After signing in, we weren't there very long because there were only a few choice people I cared to see. He met PSR after the early bird jazz band rehearsal and also met my old musical director, my old science teacher/friend from the community theater and my senior English teacher. It was so good to catch up and seeing some of them was a bit difficult because as I prepare myself to teach, I get choked up thinking of their influence. Cheesy, I know. That afternoon, we visited with grandparents, and Mom even took the second half of the day off to spend with us. We went to the local bar, The Depot with my aunt and uncle for pizza, beer, and ridiculous conversation. As I get older and more "legal", my family has started to share their own stories of drunken ridiculousness from their youth (or even yesterday for my aunt, it's one and the same sometimes) and spent the rest of the evening at their house visiting with my cousins who get more grown up by the day. I used to change their diapers and put them in time-out; now, they are young men ready to enter the middle school and high school. No more cuddle time, unfortunately.

Saturday, my mom took us to BG to visit my sister and see her new house. We went shopping and to Jed's for lunch. Saturday night was time spent with my father at his house eating DELICIOUS food (I get all cooking talents from this man) and watching poor OSU get their butts handed to them on a platter by USC. Heartbreaking to say the very least. Sunday was just being lazy, and then we left this morning to come home to what appeared to be hurricane-like damage. Last night, Cincinnati had a wind advisory which can be dangerous for anyone, but for our town of many hills, is a spell for diaster. Cincinnati is not a well-prepared city even for an inch of snow (the city pretty much shuts down) but for wind whipping 80 MPH at houses perched on cliffs like the ones across from my new house, the damage is apparently great. We received text after text from friends back home telling us about roofs flying off or lines and trees down in the street. Apparently, my own street was blocked off late last night and no one could enter or leave. 500,000 people are without power today (luckily, I live near exactly 8 hospitals), many roads are closed or blocked off and Hamilton County has been put in an emergency state, everyone is asked to stay at home if they absolutely can. My heart goes out to Houston and anyone effected by the hurricane, but from my small point of view, this is nuts!

Anywho...that's all the update I can muster; I'm absolutely exhausted and need to do laundry.