Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in Heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.
This is such a comforting phrase and one our family needed to hear over the past week.
My husband's brother, Jim Tolsdorf, celebrated his 81st birthday with two sibling and their spouses on July 31, 2020. There were two rhubarb pies for 5 people. This family loves rhubarb. It was a good day. Jim made one pie and later told another sibling that it was probably the last pie he would ever make. We did not see this as a sign until later. There other odd comments made that day but nothing to prepare us for his passing. On Monday, August 3 , he was found by a caregiver who worked three days per week at his home. There will always be the mystery of when he passed. But, we all agreed he was ready even if we weren't.
The next week was spent making arrangements, making needed notifications, all that necessary detail that comes when a life is through. Visitation proceeded as anticipated, but the next day, August 10, 2020 is a day to remember.
Everyone arrived at the funeral home in time for a 10:30 a.m. service. About half way through the Pastors word of comfort we began to hear rain coming down. At first this was a sound met happily due to the drought we had been going through. The lights flickered a bit. We could hear the wind intensifying. And then, we could hear sirens off in the distance. The sirens and the service continued. The Pastor said he was 4 minutes from the end of his message when the funeral home people said there was a tornado warning (meaning a tornado has been sighted ) and we needed to proceed to the lowest level of the building. Cell phone lights were our only means of illumination. During the next 20 minutes or so the wind blew furiously. (Later reports stated in some parts of the area winds were clocked at 99 and 106 miles per hour. It was not feasible to leave the building for some time. We were due to drive about a mile to Jim's church for lunch. The route was littered with branches and whole downed trees. Passage was a bit tricky but we arrived. The church was also without power so we ate by tiny candle light which was not as romantic as one might think. ( And of course, the power had gone out before the coffee could be made, but I digress).
Burial was to be at the Scranton Township Cemetery. Jim joined his wife Ann, who had been interred in 2012 and four generations of ancestors. It should have been about an hour and one half drive to Scranton. The burial service was to be at 2:00 p.m. The Pastor was anxious to go because he wanted to get back to Des Moines where there was limb and tree damage in his own yard.
We left the church with flowers and extra food from the lunch and started north on Interstate 35. A few miles north of Ankeny the traffic began to slow. We were seeing semi tractor trailers blown over. We also noticed no traffic coming from the north. Later information confirmed a semi tractor trailer on fire ahead and 17-18 rollovers. Having lived in this area years ago we decided we needed to get off the interstate where we could be stranded for what might be hours. This turned out to be a big mistake. We made it to the small town of Madrid and were shocked at the sights of the wind effect on corn fields. Some were totally flat. This is something I had never seen before. We saw the Grain Elevator in Luther damaged as well as numerous farmsteads. We just kept pointing out the devastation which was unlike anything we had ever seen. It looked like the aftermath of a tornado but far too wide. Wreckage everywhere.
And then it got worse. We arrived in Madrid where we planned to take Highway 17 north to Highway 30. Lights were flashing at the intersection and confusion seemed to be everywhere. We were unable to turn north because some electrical lines and trees were down on the highway. Our plan was to continue west for a few blocks, turn north another couple blocks and go back east to the highway to get around the problem. So we started through residential blocks and saw more destruction. At times, trees turned the streets into one lane passages. Others streets provided no passage at all. It was constant. Tree after tree. Yard after yard. Street after street. Finally, we arrived back to Highway 17 a few blocks north of the intersection. Turns out the power lines were down much farther to the north. We began our backtrack through the maze of debris. We could not seem to get out of this town. At one spot there was a tree over half the road and another hanging branch on our side of the street. A woman grabbed a branch and pulled it back so we could continue on.
At last we were out of town heading west. We decided to try the west, north, east plan again. After a few miles going west, we turned onto a gravel road going north and took the road east at the intersection. There were three vehicles ahead of us, one pulling a flatbed trailer. They didn't seem to know what they were doing. At last, we determined they were turning around and going back west. The truck with the trailer, however, was only backing up. It angled from side to side and then back again. Once they were out of the way, we made our way to Highway 17. For as far north as one could see to as far south there was nothing to see but utility poles lying across the highway. There was now nothing to do but join the parade heading back to the last intersection. We moved at a snails pace for about a mile behind the incompetent driver of the truck and trailer.
From that point on we made good progress. We were about 45 minutes away from a service that was to start in 15 minutes. Amazingly, we were not the last to arrive. Finally all the family was there and the Pastor conducted the brief service. Military honors were given by servicemen from Offutt Air Base. They had arrived one and one half hours early for a service that started almost an hour late.
Our day was wrapped up with a final family gathering at our country home about 8 miles away. There was trepidation driving toward home after all we had seen. Luckily our only physical damage was a tree across the lane which had been removed by a friend. We continued to enjoy each other's company, snack a bit, and reminisce about Jim and the unusual day. This was done WITHOUT electricity.
Our power came back on around 9:30 p.m. which put us in the lucky category. Power will be out in other areas for days. The news reported 10 million acres of ruined corn. We learned this weather phenomenon is called a derecho wind.
Or I suppose we could say that Jim made a memorable exit of this life.
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