What.  A.  Weekend.

It was a tough one – I’m not going to lie.

A tough-but-fun one filled with old friends visiting from out-of-town, drinking lots of beer, a 2-year-old’s birthday party, a 19 hour power outage, a power outage during a 2-year-old’s birthday party, drinking lots more beer because it’s good beer and it’s about to get warm and because you’re at a 2-year-old’s birthday party, and oh yeah – the power is out.

It was a little like this:

Yes, the mother of the 2-year-old could very well kill me for posting this photo.  But she doesn’t read this blog.  And if you do read this blog and you happen to know her, let’s just forget about this little incident and think of the greater good.  I think some people could really use some smiles today, you know?  Thank you for your cooperation.

But really, electricity or no, the party was a lot of fun.

As far as I’m concerned, any time cake and beer come together is a good time.

Little did we know, things like this were happening not too far away:

Lowe’s store in Sanford, NC. Photo by: Ted Richardson, Associated Press

This is definitely not Kansas.  It’s the Lowes where I shop regularly.  I pass it on my way to work.  Thanks to the store manager who ushered people to the back of the store, none of the 150-some employees and customers were injured while Nature, during her epic tantrum, hurled their cars like so many Hot Wheels at the front of the building.

I could go on.

A dear friend who lives very near the destruction said I should come document it with photos.  I was tempted.  Very tempted.  But the thing is, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  I didn’t want to stand there and freeze a moment of someone’s devastation.  A stranger’s pain.  It could’ve been someone I serve at the bar.  Someone I get mad at for driving too slow.  They don’t need me there now.  At least not in that way.

I’m happy my friends are safe.

But I’m sad for the people who aren’t, because while I don’t know them, they could’ve been my friends at some point.  But now they won’t.  You know?

Also, I had a dream last night.  I wrote it down at 5:00 this morning because it was so vivid, and I didn’t want the fog of consciousness to later make it seem less significant than it did at 5:00 this morning.

It could just be that anything that happens at 5:00 in the morning seems significant.

I don’t know.

But I’m pretty sure I’m going to share it with you later today.  It was one of those dreams where people from different facets of my life appear in little cameos throughout.  It makes no sense now, but it made perfect sense in the dream.

Picture Dorothy waking up from the land of Oz, saying, “You were there.  And you!”

And that’s how this was.  All over the place.  A glimpse of what goes on inside my head.

Yet there seemed to be a point – one I can’t grasp.  There’s the very real possibility that sharing it might change how you think of me, but that’s a  risk I’m willing to take if someone could shed some light on what it actually means.

IF it means anything.

It could just mean I had too much beer and cake this weekend.

And you know what?

That’s probably it.