The Ordeal
Day 6 of the ordeal: Still without
electricity, provisions running low, no hot water, temperatures dropping into
the single digits tonight, no end in sight, chances of survival diminish with
each passing hour...
Oh, the humanity!
Day
7 of the ordeal: Still no
electricity... batteries of my devices nearly dead, must conserve my
communique's...Hope is dwindling, I haven't heard helicopters since last evening.
I can only assume this means the search party has been called off. Morale is
extremely low. It seems that the end is imminent. I must make some difficult
decisions; stay put and hope to be found, or attempt a self-rescue by putting
on my boots and hiking out... Though, with my c-section wound and Tyler's
broken femur, hiking may not be the best choice, but we must do something...
Nothing in my life has prepared me for this type of adversity...
Day 8 of the ordeal: Snow has begun to fall... The
outlook is grim... After weighing the risks involved in hiking out, we decided
to hunker down until the very end... It is easier to find a stationary object
than a moving one.
Out of provisions... Lights are on on
3 sides of us... To the west... to the South... To the East. We are in a
still-dark peninsula, have they forgotten us? Do we still exist? Or should we
allow hope to once again fill our sails?
Day 9 of the ordeal: Still no electricity. There are lights on all four
sides of me, I know I have been forgotten. All hope of rescue gone I feel like
we missed the last helicopter out of Saigon and watched it off to the horizon...
We may have to melt snow for drinking water... I have exhausted my data plan...
I don't see survival as an option any more. Someone, please let Carlos know that I
love him...
Day 10 of the
ordeal: I have been keeping the drapes of my room tightly
closed to conserve heat, but as I awoke this morning, my room was full of
light, not the light of the sun, but the light on my nightstand. My digital
light flashing 12:00…12:00…12:00… was I still dreaming? I looked around again,
still light in my room. I reached to the lamp on the nightstand, I flicked the
switch back and forth to on then off and on again. Power has really been
restored!!! They did not forget about us and this little peninsula of darkness
on South Grand! We’re saved!!!
Just yesterday, we
were certain that ours would not be a rescue; rather, a recovery
operation. The young one was growing increasingly restless and scared. I
weighed the risks involved and decided, that, despite his broken femur, I would
dispatch the young one to seek help. More than 36 hours has passed since he
hobbled off, crutches crunching in the newly fallen snow…I have not seen him
since. I fear that he may have been eaten by wolves.
Follow up
11/28/2015:
I had the craziest dream last night: I dreamt that
I was supposed to work in Seattle but had to stay in Spokane to help my son
move into an apartment. The power to my apartment went out a couple of days
before that. Then, my son arrived for a day which then stretched out to 6 days,
my birthday gift turned into penance, then had a migraine so severe that I
slept right through Thanksgiving... It seemed so real...
