With the arrival of warmer weather in Spring, we thought we would start building our cabin, and really settling in.
This was, however, early 2020, and we had not yet realized that 2020 had other plans for humanity.
Naturally, having ended 2019 with a tornado of yellowjackets, we started 2020 with a tornado of... tornado.
Nashville of course was devastated, and our neck of the woods was not spared. Where once there were houses, there were empty lots. Entire churches caved in on themselves and spilled their guts all over the streets. Even on foot, you couldn't make it out of our neighborhood for days, because all the roads were impassable. It took three days before it was even possible to get a vehicle out of our neighborhood and to a grocery store:
While we were safe and sound, our neighborhood was not, and it turns out that a week without power in the city is dramatically less fun than camping (bees and hard-won lessons notwithstanding).
Instead of heading back out to our land, we instead used our new survival skills to make the best of surviving in what now seemed more akin to a post-apocalyptic RPG than our previously quiet neighborhood:
If you ever get the chance to spend a week in your house in the early Spring before the weather really warms up, with no power, playing Magic the Gathering and whatever else you can find to pass the time, clearing debris from your neighborhood during the day, cooking meals in your fireplace, and "bathing" with a bowl of lukewarm water and a rag while standing in your kitchen, I highly recommend you don't do it. You should also make note of whoever has offered you this experience, because they are not your friend.
When the power finally came back on, and we were able to take a hot bath, it was the most grateful I've ever felt in my life. I very literally stood there with my hand in the water the whole time the bathtub filled, holding back tears.
2020, you son of a bitch...
