While the saying "abandon hope, all ye who enter here" is most likely true about this blog, being as everytime you check, there is again nothing new (at least I'm consistent), I am going to buck the recent trend and introduce some new content here.  This is mostly due to an interesting and challenging occurrence last evening and it has given me fodder for thought and writing. 
As many of you no doubt have heard, there was a sudden thunderstorm last night that hit Toronto with a wallop to the backside of the head without much warning causing torrential rains (I heard something like 104 mm in a couple of hours - apparently the amount of rainfall that normally happens in the whole summer - in just a few hours!) and quick and tremendous flooding. 


As you may also know, my dear hubby toils and works in the downtown of Toronto but was going to meet someone for coffee after work so I wasn't super concerned when I hadn't heard from him by about 7...until I turned on the car radio and was hit with this news flash and heard about the upheaval caused by the rains... then I became concerned.  I texted with him but again he didn't seem overly concerned - not much flooding that he saw so I was put at ease.  However, when it came time to come home, the busses were not running and the trains were sporadic due to power outages and tracks being washed away by the flooding....so I said I would meet him in Mississauga - I mean, how hard can it be to find one person in the dark, on unfamiliar streets, late at night with no streetlights or stoplights to guide you along the way... apparently tough!!! 
When we were finally settling down to sleep around 1:15 am, I reflected back on the events of the past few hours and realized that my prayers of desperation had been answered and that God does provide peace in the midst of the storms!  Praise Him! 
You see, when I hit Mississauga, the lights on the highway were off... it was a bit odd to see but hey, it was doable... all I had to do was to find the Clarkson station - head down the road and voila, there he would be... alas and alack, close but no cigar as the saying goes... I drove and drove, occasionally remembering that I really should be stopping at all these dark traffic lights like a four way stop (as most people know, my absolutely unfavourite traffic calming technique).  I reached Lakeshore but thought, I must be wrong "i'm in the middle of nowhere!"  Okay, turn around and by this time, I've received a message that I had to be at the Long Branch station anyways, since the trains weren't running that far... so off I went - back on the highway... how hard can this be?  Yep, there's the signs for Long Branch - see you soon, honey!  But nope, the signs were extremely difficult to read in the dark but seemed to point me to drive left - which put me on the service road (a little odd in my humble addled opinion but hey, follow the signs - they're never wrong!)  I did begin to doubt, and feel very uncertain when I ended up back on the QEW heading towards Toronto - all the while in my head screaming out "I DON'T WANT TO BE GOING THIS WAY!  AAAAAHHHHH!" 
Deep breaths... panic isn't good... deep breaths.. okay, exit at the next exit, pull a uuiieee (????) in the dark back onto the highway, get off at Dixie this time... and signs point me north which I did think a bit odd at the time but it was dark and signs don't lie right?  So off I went... next signs for GO that I see are for a locked complex.... that can't be right... i'll go a bit further, wait i'll ask the gas station man who is busy texting on his phone and couldn't give a fiddler's fart as to whether he's giving me proper directions, after all, a kinda disheveled, limping lady comes into his shop, doesn't buy any gas and asks him to help her find her husband - no need to give proper directions, she's not desparate at all! 
About three minutes down Dundas street, i'm thinking and texting desperately, I know internally this is wrong and I need to turn around - which again, I do illegally in the dark pulling more uuueeeiiis... oh the rules I broke last night - somehow the dark allows for things like that!  Back down Dixie towards the lake (I think.... in the dark who knows which way is up?) and stop at the Dixie GO station and talk to my hubby directly on the phone - you need to help me find you cause i'm hopelessly lost... okay, back on track - go through a red light since no one's coming and half of the other lights aren't working anyways, down Dixie - cross over/under the highway - nope, no can do... end up on the north service road (panic starting again)... and then Cawthra road - I recognize that, okay, take that south/east, there's that sign telling me to go on the south service road - i'm not falling for that again, not this time, i'm an hour later and a whole lot wiser (maybe!)
All is fine, i'm heading the right way, destination is within scenting distance, can't be much longer and then... the underpass is flooded - sorry, no one's getting through, even if you are from out of town, it's now past midnight and i don't care how much you cry, you can't come through.  So i followed a few other cars that were likewise rerouted into a residential neighbourhood and that wasn't a good idea (always stay put when you're lost, isn't that the rule??).  They turned into driveways and stopped bewildered themselves leaving me stranded in a totally unfamiliar neighbourhood, texting Timothy desperately "you need to find me!"  "how can i find you when i don't know where you are??"  but at last , he found me an alternate route to head down to Lakeshore and our joyous and somewhat tearful (on my behalf) reunion happened in the parking lot, i'm sure much to the amusement of the bus drivers watching the saga unfold (or at least one minute of it).  I've never been so glad to hear and see someone - there he was, safe and sound, we had made it and with only a few tiny cell phone power bars left (boy was i scared that i would be in the dark, all by myself, unable to contact him and lost!) 
But all's well that ends well - we were pretty sleepy this morning and were glad that there was no flooding in Hamilton to worry about. 
God has promised in His word never to wipe out the whole world with a flood, but sometimes it takes a little flood to renew trust in His promises!