Hurrican Irene made landfall in New Jersey late Saturday night, 8/27. My wife was at work and I was home with the kids. I did not get home till early evening, which I will explain later, so it was time to relax and get ready for the brunt of the storm as soon as I set foot in the door. My house is a Bi-Level, so when you walk in the door you either go upstairs or downstairs. My downstairs is 75% below ground, and we have a sump pump to that pumps rising water out to the street to prevent flooding. Now my house has been in my family for almost 7 years and I have never seen water in the basement. The power went out around 9:30 p.m. and I was instantly worried about the sump pump and flooding. The pump is run by electricity, and I do not have a battery back up or a generator. We were listening to the radio when it announced a Tornado Warning. So the girls and I went downstairs and I showed them where to go if we heard the tornado coming. They were champs, weren't scared much, and slept on the floor. I continued to listen to the radio for updates. My youngest went to the bathroom we have downstairs and said, "Daddy, there is water in the potty." I chuckled and replied, "I know dear, there is supposed to be water in the potty." With her hands on her hips she said a little sternly, "But not on the floor Daddy." I went over and heard the squishing under my foot before I ever got to the bathroom. I told the girls to head upstairs, we sat in the living room listening to the radio in the dark. I checked the water level downstairs about every half hour, and it continued to rise. I had moved what small stuff I could, but I resigned myself to the fact that the furniture was just going to have to be ruined. Around 3 a.m. the power turned back on and the sump pump did its work and got rid of the water. Now we are doing the clean up. We have lost all of our furniture including our couch, hutch, my great-grandparents stereo/8 track/phonograph, and all of my oldest daughter's bedroom furniture. I just finished her bedroom a couple of months ago, and it was ruined. The drywall was really damaged, and so was all the wood and molding. Electronically I lost a few computer towers I was working on, a PS2, a printer, and my sub-woofer for my surround sound system.
Now onto "Hurrahs" from the title of the blog. My Uncle and Aunt met later in life, and because of that, are older first time parent. My Uncle was like an older brother to me, and he and I are very close. He asked me to be God-Father to my cousin, and i was overjoyed. The Baptism was this past weekend, yes, the weekend of the Hurricane. The Baptism had to go on due to upcoming surgeries needed for my cousin, and they wanted her Baptized before the surgeries started. The moved the party to Saturday, hence the reason I was not home till early evening as mentioned before. Then Sunday was the Baptism. My Aunt and Uncle live an hour away from me. It was a good time, and this is my first time being a God-Father. I was/am truly honored that they asked me to fulfill such a large role in their daughter's life. My wife got me a great T-shirt. It has the marrionet handle and string from the Godfather Movie cover, but it says, "Irish Godfather" underneath. To explain, my mother's maiden name is Lynch.
"Home remodeling" shouldn't need much of a description. The carpet is mostly out, the furniture is at the curb, and we have salvaged what we could. Now it's time to cut away the ruined drywall, treat the studs for mold, plan for the tile I am putting down instead of carpet this time, and we have to buy furniture to replace what we lost. It isn't a good trade off, but since I lost the stereo that was my Great-Grandparent's and a hutch, my mother offered my my Grandparen't hutch. I like having a good antique from family in an area where we spend a lot of time. Kind of makes you feel like a real family room because there is an influence of previous generations there.