有掙紮有思考有努力
記錄著
前天晚上去朋友家裏爬梯。
成員有：
M夫婦：先生是工程師，太太是護士，在德國工作NN年，前些年回美，搬到湖邊的家，沒有退休，還在工作，年齡EARLY 60s
V夫婦：先生退休前是空軍飛行員，太太是某銀行TRUST管理部的主任（剛剛退休），年齡EARLY 60s
S夫婦：先生是網絡管理IT，太太是人力資源管理，去年搬到湖邊的村裏，還沒有退休，WFH. late 50s
D夫婦：先生退休之前是高管，太太退休之前是護士學校老師，EARLY 60S
我們夫婦兩個：先生原來自己開業的DENTIST，我來美求學之後，在大學教課，自己創業。10年前和老公一起退休。先生MID 60S，太太LATE 50S
這幾家人經常聚會的，這次是在S夫婦家裏，看足球賽事。
他們強烈要求我講述這次和老公颶風脫險的故事，我一般是個安靜的人，但也不怵公共演講，我說好，一陣嬉笑，我站在最前麵，開始像老師一樣講故事。
先說結果，大家逗得哈哈大笑，各種插話無縫連接，我自己感覺口才了得。
我老公也感覺我太厲害了，逗死人不償命。
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 (坑老婆沒商量）
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先生說：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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匆匆趕到婚禮現場，沒有來得及做頭發，為了侄兒和他的新娘子，也值得。
謝謝您：--）
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 :)