Evacuation

At the beginning of January, they started some major road construction on our street that's supposed to last till mid-2010. Which is a really long time to be annoyed every day sitting in traffic trying to get to your driveway. So I was even more annoyed today when Trevor and I were coming home from dropping Hayden at school and found the street shut down completely in both directions several blocks away from our house. I tried cutting through the neighborhood and coming back from the other side, but was still blocked off. So I parked the car about a block away and got Trevor out and starting walking.

I asked a cop who was diverting traffic when I would be able to drive my van back to my house, and he said after they fixed the massive gas leak the road construction crew caused when they hit a gas line. So I continue towards the house, suddenly noticing a strong smell of gas. I asked another cop a little further down whether it was OK to go to my house. He asked for my address and then radioed someone and then said "no, your house is right where the leak is". So I mentioned some mild concern that my newborn baby and husband were at home. He said no, they evacuated everybody. I said it seemed strange that Sean wouldn't call my cell phone to tell me they had been evacuated.

So the cop volunteers to go down to the house to see if anyone is home. He comes back and says that Sean's car is still there, but there's no answer at the door. I'm still concerned about not knowing their whereabouts, so he takes Trevor and I in the squad car down towards the house. He tells me to leave Trevor with him while I go check in the house, and that if there's a problem inside, come flag him down. I think the implication was that if my family is asphyxiated, he'll radio for help. So I go in the house and Juliette's carrier is still inside so I call for Sean. He responds "What?" from the back bedroom. I shout "Did you not answer the door for any of the police trying to evacuate you?" "I was in the shower" he shouts back. So I grab the baby, car seat, and diaper bag and tell him to come on. Sean, always cool in the emergency, needs to comb his hair first so I leave without him. He joins us in the police car a minute later. The cop was pretty surprised to see me walking out with the baby he was so sure wasn't there. So Juliette had her first ride in a squad car at only one month old. That's one for the baby book.

We tried to come home a few hours later but the street was still blocked off. We finally were able to get into the house about 6 hours after the initial evacuation. Did I mention it was pajama day at Hayden's school so were were toting around the boys in their jammies this whole time? Eventually I stopped and bought them some pants when it was clear were weren't getting back in the house for a while. Obviously, the house didn't blow up, and the dogs were still alive when we came home. We did have to leave the doors open for a while to air out the gas smell though.

All in all, an exhausting day.