The setting was Morgan County. We were in some version of the house in Enterprise. Bob had gone to church in Peterson. I was at home with two children, a baby of about 15 months and a toddler. It wasn’t stormy, but spring run off began threatening to flood our home. I went down the basement in the lower storage area. It had south facing large windows. One was open. Water was dripping in through the foundation and windows. I tried to move boxes of papers and clothes to a higher area. Most of the storage stuff was food in cans and bottles, so I thought it would be ok. Then mud began engulfing the house and sliding toward the back yard. Some dripped in the open window, but as it slid past, it closed the window. I ran upstairs and looked out into the back yard. The mud was quickly engulfing the entire yard and was approaching the horse pens, where Spirit and Shrek were being surrounded by mud. I grabbed my two kids and a neighbor appeared, along with Teisha who got halters for the horses and we went out to rescue the horses. Spirit had nearly fallen in the mud, but we pulled her out, somehow led the horses and kids to safety with a neighbor to higher ground. I had dropped my cell phone in the water and was trying to get it to work to call Bob. It kept falling apart in my hands and couldn’t get it to work. I was SO frustrated at this. Then, I realized I had Bob’s phone in my pocket. HE HAD FORGOTTEN TO TAKE IT, SO I COULDN’T REACH HIM! But, his phone didn’t work either. I tried to look at the contact list, but the phone was so unfamiliar I couldn’t work it. Never mind, we must evacuate. The neighbor helped us get the horses moved and we somehow got them to a canyon area that wasn’t affected by the mud flood. The neighbor said we had to get to safety. We left the horses in the care of a girl with a large mountainside pasture and paid her. We ended up at some sort of library or school like a community center. I was still asking for a phone, but no one had one that worked. Then I didn’t know who to call, so I tried to get Bob’s phone on so he could call me on it, since mine didn’t work. I was surrounded by strangers, but they all seemed to want to help. We had nothing with us, I hadn’t even had time to grab a purse or a diaper bag. We just had the clothes on our backs, nothing else. Not even a diaper or water bottle. Bob had the car, I knew…if he could just get to us, there would be some supplies in the car. Whoops, I thought, I hadn’t packed those “72 hour” backpacks I had been intending to. They were still unfinished at home, which by now had pretty much been mud engulfed, at least the bottom floors. It all seemed so utterly real. About this point, I woke up, realized I was in bed in my MR home and it had all been a dream. What a relief!!!
(April 17, 2010)
