First, there was the on-going Dismal Swamp fire which made it nearly impossible to walk Lincoln each morning for fear of inhaling large quantities of smoke. Speaking of smoke, how about the 7 arsons conducted 2 streets away from our quaint home, each time stinking up our house and neighborhood! It made me feel like the girl who cried wolf....should you call the fire department if it might just be smoke from Suffolk or could there be a huge fire in the neighborhood?! A tired, pregnant woman should not have to make those decisions at 5:30 am while trying to tame a crazy golden retriever!
Then there was the 5.8 Earthquake just northwest of Richmond, which was clearly felt in our area, as it was on much of the east coast. It was about 1:40 and I was finishing up a new patient evaluation, placing us behind a curtain in the main gym. All of a sudden, I thought I was having a hypoglycemic or hypertensive episode and felt as if I was going to fall off my rolling stool. I calmly reached out to the exam table to pretend to write a note, while in reality I just needed something to hold onto to break my fall! I continued on with my whole 'plan of care' talk, just thinking, "Don't say anything about feeling dizzy. She is going to think you are a crazy woman and never come back to PT!". Finally, she asked if I felt the room move too and I breathed a sigh of relief, both for my baby and for my crazy head! Luckily, we had no side-effects from the quake.
And then, there was Irene. People say that I'm just being silly, but I never prepare for hurricanes since living in the Norfolk area. I mean, we put a few things in the garage and emptied the fridge of perishables because our power goes out weekly, but that was pretty much the extent of our preparations. I finished my 3 day conference in 1 long day so everyone could leave town before the storm and then I sat, and sat, and sat and waited for something big to happen. But it didn't. Well, at least not like they were expecting it too. Norfolk is flooded (it floods during gentle rains sometimes), our power is out (again, it goes out when the wind threatens to blow), and there is a little tree limb hanging over our driveway, but other than that, not much.
