有挣扎有思考有努力
记录着
前天晚上去朋友家里爬梯。
成员有：
M夫妇：先生是工程师，太太是护士，在德国工作NN年，前些年回美，搬到湖边的家，没有退休，还在工作，年龄EARLY 60s
V夫妇：先生退休前是空军飞行员，太太是某银行TRUST管理部的主任（刚刚退休），年龄EARLY 60s
S夫妇：先生是网络管理IT，太太是人力资源管理，去年搬到湖边的村里，还没有退休，WFH. late 50s
D夫妇：先生退休之前是高管，太太退休之前是护士学校老师，EARLY 60S
我们夫妇两个：先生原来自己开业的DENTIST，我来美求学之后，在大学教课，自己创业。10年前和老公一起退休。先生MID 60S，太太LATE 50S
这几家人经常聚会的，这次是在S夫妇家里，看足球赛事。
他们强烈要求我讲述这次和老公飓风脱险的故事，我一般是个安静的人，但也不怵公共演讲，我说好，一阵嬉笑，我站在最前面，开始像老师一样讲故事。
先说结果，大家逗得哈哈大笑，各种插话无缝连接，我自己感觉口才了得。
我老公也感觉我太厉害了，逗死人不偿命。
Chapter 1, Preface, September 27, 2024, Friday, the village
Friday 27, 2024, 5:00am, T (my husband) told me: "hi baby, i think we ought to change our plan, instead of starting at 5:30am, 9:30am might work better"
me: "why" (both me and my husband are early risers so we normally go 5:30am if we do long distance travel)
T: "seems the weather in the early morning is not pleasant"
Me: "OKAY-dokay, good idea"!
the audience burst into laughter. MRS M ask " did you know there was a hurricane"
Me: no, i had no idea about the hurricane. but T might know (坑老婆没商量）
Hahahahahaha everybody laughed out loud.
chapter 2, I-40, September 27,2024, Friday, Smokey Mountains
9:30am, we hit on the road, when we got on I40 in the Smokey Mountain, tens of waterfalls were falling from mountain to the side of highway, caused by the heavy rain of course.
T: hi baby, you can take pictures now, look at the waterfalls, endless. but the highway is so well designed that he waterfall will flow under the drainage and be taken care of.
wow, impressive. so i started to appreciate the view of waterfalls from the mountains.
what a great country, great engineers, great projects and great design ! feel so proud of them!
the audience started to chuckle up ......
before long, maybe 3 hours after we passed the I40 west, there were news saying the road was clsoed because the mudslides and flood on the hightway.
we barely escaped !
but we didn't know, we were heading to I26 east to the wedding in Chalottee.
chapter 3, I-26, September 27, 2024, Friday, North Carolina
here we are, on I26 near Asheville.
i started to receive message warning this is an unsafe place because of the hurricane. i was confused because the weather looked so nice on September 27, Friday and the Sun came out making the visibility very good for drivers.
when we were approaching Asheville, NC, i said, "hi, love, can we find a place to get some refreshment?"
T : "sure!"
we exited I26 and get into one small town, surprisingly, no electricity, nothing open.
next small town, no electricity, nothing open.
next small town, the same
then i started to feel a little uneasy.
continue on I-26, a little after 12:00pm, we were on I-26 east, south of Asheville.
i started to see flood on both sides of the highway, houses were volunerably about to emerge in the water.
i also saw on the other side of I-26, the highway rails were damaged and the water flooded in.
on our side of the road, i started to see the splash caused by the vehicles in front of us.
our vehicle started to make big splash.
HOLY MOLLY, this is not fun. something serious is happening !
panic!
intuitively, drive and hope to go throught the dangerous segment and get to the safe zone.
all of a sudden, we were stopped, and people were yelling,
"turning around! turning around! the bridge in front of us is flooded ......"
mama mia, turning around? the other side, as i just saw a few minutes ago, was flooded even worse !
i started to feel a little chill runing throuh my spine.
i went very very quiet. i know my husband must be nervous too. i need to be quiet to let him make the decision, one voice, one decision. live or not, destiny.
He made the right decision! he turned around immediately and found a exit before the damaged highway railing, exited decisively and found a place on highland and parked there.
Everything happened in a few minutes, both me and T (my husband) were extremly quiet.
HORRAY ! my husband saved my life ! saved our life!
he is old?! no !!! he can still make very quick and sharp decisions. i feel he is as agile as in his early 30s.
how smart my husband is! he is the bravest and quickest and sexist in the entire world! lets celebrate, i raised the wine glass.
everybody started to laugh and praised me being quiet and a trooper. two women started to say, oh, you are so right to be quiet, if it were me, i probably would have yelled at my husband. how could you keep your mouth shut at that moment?
I said, in the very critical decisive moment, noise can cost big.
everybody nodded.
S先生说：what about the tatoo parlor and the Chinese restaurant?
OK, i said, that is what i am going to tell.
audience laughed again: that is next chapter. you be quiet!
Chapter 4, sleep in the car, on a parking lot of Flecher, NC
this is a very small business center, in a town called Flecher, a little south of Asheville. there were a few small shops, a tatoo parlor, closed, a subway, closed.
a small Chinese grocery store, open!
a small Chinese restaurant, open!
we were saved! bathroom and food !
one of the audience said " i bet they have good business that day"
i said, "yes, they saved us". people started to line up in front of the restaurant, probably 50 ourside.
we got food, T got me double brocconi, life feels normal.
its getting dark, T decided we stay at the same place and sleep in the car. the whole parking lot was turned into a camping ground. everybody was sleeping in the car.
"how was your sleep?"
"oh, good, i fell into sleep around 9:00pm and woke up at 5:30am next morning"
Chapter 5, out of Asheville, September 28, 2024, I-26 east
woke up in the morning, we started to drive around, looking for food and bathroom. all the traffic lights are off. no business was open.
"this is going to take us back to the primitive" i said.
PUFF!
my husband found a Waffle House, its open for breakfast.
talking about civilization !
clean bathroom is the number one !
everybody was happy in the house, everybody was getting the same meal, and everybody was paying a big tip.
after the meal, we went to a church parking lot and took a nap. a huge tree fell in front of the church but nothing damaged.
waiting for the news of I-26 east.
fortunately, I-26 opened after 11:30am.
we headed onto Chalotte, NC.
checked into the Westin Hotel and dress up.
a few minutes late for the church wedding.
happy to see all the families.
the wedding was very beautiful and the reception was nicely organized.
200 guest from everwhere of the states
Chapter 6: the Afterword, I-81
I-81 had an image of being rural and risky. it goes all the way north to New York and Canada, south to Mexico.
i have read that I-81 is a human traffic and gangs road.
Seeing is believing！
its our first time to drive on I-81, the road is very smooth, a quality built highway.
as I-40 west is closed untill September 2025, I-81 would become our #1 road to travel.
Sunday everning, September 29, 2024, home and safe.
played pikleball with friends.
Made it!
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匆匆赶到婚礼现场，没有来得及做头发，为了侄儿和他的新娘子，也值得。
谢谢您：--）
平安！
What a story you have told! With humor and grace, impressive!
This is a great point to keep in mind:” I need to be quiet to let him make the decision, one voice, one decision. live or not, destiny.”
Thank you Helen :)