Tag: Michael Stanley

Call me “Michaelangelo” and call Rommie “Splinter.”

“In The Beginning”

Monday 5/12 was a fairly typical day.  The only thing different about the morning was my hair appointment before work. The plan was to color my hair that night and paint my nails Tuesday night.

As usual, God had other plans.

“Gimme Shelter”

Once at work, the day progressed normally with a high volume of calls. Then a storm blew in and with it a lightning strike that messed up the phone system. The storm passed, as all storms due, and we continued to go about our business.

About 15 minutes before closing I was on a call and the gentleman asked about our weather. I told him it was pitch black and we were going to get another round of storms.  He was a few states west of me and they were getting storms too.

We figured out what he needed to purchase and as I was taking his credit card information, my supervisor walked through the call center shouting “Get to the tornado shelter now!”  I told my customer I need the remainder of his credit card information quickly, as I was being ordered to the tornado shelter.  He gave me the information, I hit the enter button and told him his order went through and disconnected the call. Luckily he signed up for automatic order confirmation and got a notice via email.

I made it to the shelter along with other staff members.  We were there about 15 minutes when the warning expired and we headed home.

Not “Singing In The Rain”

It was a steady rain when I left the building.  Everyone in heaven turned on their faucets once I pulled onto the 2 lane road. The down pour was so heavy I wished for a place to safely pull over. The shoulder was not wide enough so I drove home at a snail’s pace. The windshield wipers barely kept my windshield clear. I remember thinking I must get that stuff to put on windshields which helps visibility in rain and snow.

White Lines And Red Lights

I stopped at the first stop sign which is at a nasty intersection and was able to somehow make it through even though I could barely see if there was oncoming traffic.  It is a short drive home but that night it felt like hours.

The only way I could see the road, was by looking for the white line.  It brought to mind the famous line from the song “Lover” by the Michael Stanley Band (this song turned many a Northeast Ohio girl to mush back when it was released…and still does).

“Thank God for the man who put the white lines on the highway.”

The line is so famous the audience sings it when Michael performs it in concert.  The song takes place during an Ohio winter, but that line applied to this storms torrential downpour as well.

To update the song, I would also add:

“Thank God for the man who put the blinking red lights on the stop sign.”

For those red lights were the only way I knew I was at the intersections where I needed to turn.

“Go Greased Lightning”

Once on the street that intersects with mine, I still could barely see and was not sure if I was getting ready to turn onto my street or in someone’s yard. It was only because of a streak of lightening that confirmed I was turning onto my street, which was a river.

My driveway was not visible after I turned on my street. Thanks to a sheet of lightening, I was able to see it.  Then just as I turned onto the driveway, all hail broke loose.  Thankfully my car only suffered two little dings in the trunk lid.

“Are You Still Alive?”

I expected Rommie to fly out of the bedroom and about knock me over due to her mild case of thunder phobia.  However, she did not greet me at the door.  I hollered “Are you still alive?” and she came sauntering down the hallway.  Joe must have been keeping her company in the bedroom.

No sooner than I got home when another tornado warning was issued.

Down into the basement Rommie and I went.

The Fountain Minus The Three Coins

We were there about 15 minutes when I heard it…. gurgle, gurgle, gurgle.  I immediately knew where the noise was coming from and when I looked into the laundry room, I saw a fountain of rainwater coming up from the pipe that goes from the tub into the sewer system.

Truthfully, I would have been surprised if water had not come up.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post “Sewer Rats Part 2”