Experience

Experience creates wisdom, if you let it.

Last February, Texas was hit with a huge storm that lasted for a week and caused all kinds of damage and even death. For two days, the power in our house would come on for 10 minutes, then go off for 45 minutes. The temperature dropped unbelievably low—and stayed there. All week long. We were cold. Some people had it much worse than we did. We have lived here since 2011, and despite an occasional snowstorm, we had never seen anything like it.

Friends and neighbors had broken pipes that flooded their homes. We had broken pipes in one bathroom, lots of pool equipment damage, and a leaky refrigerator. Most of our plants, trees, and bushes around our house died. Because of supply issues, some of the repairs took weeks, even months to complete. One neighbor finally got everything fixed two days ago. Another friend had been out of their flooded home and barely moved back in five days ago.

So, with the exception of my little kids, no one was really excited about the forecast this week for another February storm.

This time, however, we did have a little experience. The past two days we made sure we had enough wood, carrying it up to our outside porch so it would be dry and easily accessed. We got gas in our cars and enough food for a week. We left the faucets dripping to prevent frozen pipes. We even covered our pool equipment, just in case.

My pool guy texted me yesterday, warning us that if we lost power for an extended period of time (more than two hours), we would need to drain the pumps and filter. He said to call him and he’d come over to help. Although it had happened before, I really didn’t think we would lose power again. I felt confident.

We got into bed around 11:30. Almost immediately, the power went off, then flickered back on. And then it went off again.

I held my breath.

It didn’t come back on.

UGH.

Hesitatingly, I sent a text to my pool guy. I asked him what to do? Honestly, it was so late, I didn’t even expect a response. But he got back to me and told me what to do. I bundled up and went outside to get to work.

It did not go well.

The bushes were already iced, and the rain was steadily falling. With no power, I was standing outside in some serious blackness, trying to twist off a drain for a filter that was put on by Satan himself. It wasn’t going to budge. I texted again. He told me I could Facetime and he would walk me through it. Desperate, I did just that.

(Just a little FYI—when you Facetime someone, your phone flashlight doesn’t work. So it is really pointless. He was looking at blackness, and so was I. I should have had a real flashlight, but that hardly matters now. Anyway, don’t Facetime in the pitch black freezing rain in February in Texas.)

He told me where to find the other drain plugs, which I did and could unscrew easily. I told him I couldn’t move the big drain on the filter. He asked me if I had some kind of tool? I had never even heard the word he was saying, so I knew we didn’t have one! He offered to come by and help. I declined, determined that Brian would be able to get the plug off.

He couldn’t.

Sheepishly, I texted one last time and let him know the filter drain wasn’t coming off. He said he was on his way.

I didn’t have the heart to say no. I knew we needed help, and he had the tools to do it. It was after midnight.

About 15 minutes later, my pool guy arrived. He had the plug out and the water drained in 2 minutes. He also checked a few things and opened some things that I had missed. We thanked him and sent him back home.

Around 12:30, we finally fell asleep. I knew from our experience last year, that I couldn’t leave my pool equipment undrained in freezing weather with no power. Even at 11:30 PM, I knew I needed to do something, even if that something was dragging my pool guy over for help! Our power stayed off til 6 AM. When we woke up this morning to everything covered in ice, I knew I had a little more wisdom this year than I did last year.

Fortunately, this year’s experience also created a bit more wisdom. For one thing, we are going to drain the pool equipment before midnight, and before the storm actually hits. For another, we are going to get some super essential tools…probably for Valentine’s Day. And the last thing? I’m going to start preparing for the worst, even if it doesn’t happen.

Don’t let your experiences be for nothing—when you know better, you do better.

These are trees! The ice is so heavy that it either bends the whole tree down, or some of its branches down, or they break off altogether.