Am I prepared if an emergency strikes? Big, fat NO! This keeps me up at night. I am so far behind in 72 hour kits, food storage, the whole bit. I don't know where to begin. Water? Food? First Aid?
For months I have been telling myself that I was going to get prepared. I have high hopes of getting there at some point and yet I have done nothing. Then Tuesday happened.
Lucas and I ate breakfast and then we decided to go in the backyard to play for a little bit. I was in my robe, Lucas in his PJ's. I was reading through my YW lesson and Lucas was playing basketball. After about 15 minutes we decided to go back inside and the door was locked. I started to panic and then I thought I could just go to a neighbors and ask to call Andy. We walked over to the side gate and Andy had put a lock on the gate prior to our vacation to ward off intruders. And as luck would have it I didn't know the gatecode. So there Lucas and I sat, stuck in the backyard.
I went to the shed, got some sheers of sorts and tried to cut off the lock. No luck.
Then I took my bobby pin out of my hair and tried to MacGyver the door and unlock it. No luck.
I threw a chair on the side of the gate so I could jump over, flag down a neighbor, and jump back over. I couldn't even get over the gate. No luck.
At this point 1 1/2 hours have passed and I am now beginning to really panic. What are we going to do? Andy doesn't get home till 5:00! I have NO diapers, sippies, food, NOTHING! So I said a little prayer that Andy would come home. Now Lucas has pooped and it is not your normal poop, it is a full on explosion. So I took off his clothes and his diaper wiped him with the socks I had on (don't worry... the socks were thrown out) and literally hosed him down. Lucas actually loved the hosed and we played in the water for about an hour. (Andy said the lawn was a swamp the next day... oops!) We would have played in the hose the rest of the time, but I started to notice Lucas was getting sun burned.
So I wrapped him in my robe and tried to find shade.... but of course it is now 11:00 and shade is no where to be found. So what do we do? We sit in the playhouse.
Now I have stopped praying for Andy to come, but rather pray that he listens to the promptings he is getting so he will come home.
It is about 12:00, 4 1/2 hours since we first went outside and I hear the garage door. I start screaming for Andy and when he walks through the door I'm sure we were quite the sight. Me in my underwear, Lucas naked in my robe... Andy said about 11:00 he had a feeling he needed to come home.... he called the house and my cell phone a few times and when I didn't answer he decided to come check on us. Phew!
I tell you all this because I got a first hand look at what it is like to be in an emergency type situation and NOT be prepared. Let me just say, I never ever want to be in a situation like that ever again. Not having diapers, wipes, food, water... it is a helpless feeling. I physically couldn't take care of Lucas and it scared me.
I am now ready to take the time, energy, commitment, and necessary budget to get our family prepared!
3 comments:
Come over and bring your camera. I'll help you. Start with water and emergency high-calorie bars...they can get you through 3 days...and buy you time to work on the rest.
You become more and more like me everyday. Your experience is so like one that would happen to me. Here is a helpful hint: hide-a-key.
Oh my goodness! That's crazy! I'm so glad Andy felt prompted to come home. I know how you feel, overwhelmed by 72 hr/3 month/year food storage. I've been following a plan on foodstoragemadeeasy.net -- they have a baby steps check list they'll send you, recipes, and other helpful info. I feel a lot more prepared, though I'm still working on it. Good luck!
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