From Drought and Fires to Floods

This morning as I stared, body aching into the beautiful rising sun, I was filled with gratitude.

Yesterday started on an exciting note: Two of the three fires around us were declared OUT with the third fire merely on Patrol. Yay! We have had “fire stress” since way back in the first week of November, when our youngest son was stuck at a property in the middle of a significant and fast moving fire. He is 14 and full of adventure so it didn’t phase him at the time, but once he was out and safe the enormity of it did hit him. Anyway, I digress. It was a huge relief that two of the fires were out and surely with the amount of rain that had fallen over the past 48 hours and with what was predicted to fall today, it would only a matter of time before they declared the third fire ‘Out’. Our “Go bags” could be unpacked, photos put back in their place and precious books back on the shelf. Such an incredible relief!

We were expecting to have a day with our grand kiddies and in the process of preparing for little hands getting into things they shouldn’t, I noticed a dark mark on the carpet in my bedroom. I walked over and three metres from the window, squelch, squelch, squelch. I went to the window and wiped it to get a better look. Oh dear! Our front yard was no longer a 3 year olds version of heaven, aka full of puddles, it now resembled a raging flood creek and water was bubbling into our bedroom. The rest of the day and into the evening was spent redirecting water, clearing channels to help water flow away from the house and mopping up our floor.

The mopping up felt futile; we kept ‘Vaxing’ up water and emptying the 50 litre bucket but it just didn’t seem to be making a difference. We couldn’t keep this up all day, we needed to somehow slow down the flow of water. After much manoeuvring, we managed to create a bit of a dam to reduce the depth of the water against the house. So now we could wait 15 minutes between each Vax episode. It was 4pm and we had been at this since 10:30 in the morning. At one point there was so much water that our outside “dry area” had 3 inches of water flowing into it. I decided to make a mad dash to find those 2 bags of sand that were waiting to be poured into a paved area; one was sitting up at the paving and the other in the garden shed being guarded by a healthy red back spider. I had been wading through water deeper than my ankle and now I had to try and get down the slippery slope without going head over turkey. I managed to get to the door safely no sliding down the muddy hill, phew! Success! Those two bags were the perfect size.

Back inside and standing in front of the heater, I lamented the days when each of us had a full length Driazabone. My current wet weather gear had kept my torso dry but my shoulders and legs were wet and very cold. Time for something warmer to wear, squelch! Oh no! It seems the water was invading along the back wall as well. We have a very large bedroom (that also doubles as my sewing room) that expands from the front of the house to the back and forms the western wall. I did a much more careful look and sure enough, there was water coming in along every external wall. Really the only part of the room that was dry, was a small patch from the middle of the room towards the internal wall. More than three quarters of the room was wet and most of our furniture was now sitting in water.

So here I am at the end of today trying to get this post finished. I am tired and everything aches but I have an immense sense of gratitude. I am grateful that we had the Vax on hand so that instead of our furniture sitting in ankle deep water it was less than an inch. I am grateful that for the past three months I have been on a weight training regime to build the kind of muscle I had when I was much younger, so for all of yesterday and today I was able to easily lift those 50litre buckets and old antique wardrobes and dressers. I am grateful that I had my wonderful husband by my side. I am grateful that I witnessed our scorched and weary Mother Nature breathe a sigh of relief. I am grateful that we live in a house that has been able to accommodate us moving almost everything out of our room and into other spaces including setting up a temporary bedroom in our double sized lounge room. I am grateful that as I write this, all of the fires that have surrounded us are now declared ‘Out’.

For the past twelve months I have developed the habit of keeping a daily gratitude journal. Whilst there have been moments of frustration and even exacerbation, the past two days have absolutely demonstrated that when you have an attitude of gratitude, you can find the positive in even the most trying circumstances.