Being a religious girl, I know the story of Noah and the Great Flood very well. For those who don’t know the story go read it now before you go any further. So the whole point, or moral of the story was that the people of Earth were squandering the life they had been so graciously given by God , so God decided to wash the Earth clean and start a new.

Yesterday Perth was hit with sort of a mini Noah’s flood of sorts. Below is a photo of an actual street in Atwell.

Image by Jarrad Lawrence (facebook)

The storm hit at around 4:00pm, a time when I would normally be coming home, except for yesterday. I had an appointment with the doctor at 2:00pm so had left school early and then gone to my parents place at around 3:00pm because they wanted to talk to me about wedding plans. If I had done my usual routine I would have been caught right in the middle of the storm, my car would now be damaged and I would have been seriously risking my safety by driving home. As chance would have it I was safe in my parent’s house and my car only got one dent in it as opposed to my parents car which looks a lot like the one below, cellulite anyone?

Image by Cali Graham (facebook)

Anyway, so while alone at my parent’s place things started going a little crazy. The house started flooding. First it came through the front door, then it starting coming in through the windows and eventually the roof. At one point I emptied the buckets collecting water under one window to find myself pouring twenty litres down the drain, and that was only after ten minutes of collecting. I even had to rescue my mums dog from attempting to hang himself on the fence when the hail, thunder and lightning got too much for him and he tried a very bold escape plan, jumping the fence, despite him being several kilograms overweight and not at all athletic beyond a light trot.

I learnt later from Ben that our house had suffered a similar fate. We now have a smashed roof, flooded downstairs room and water damage to belongings.

What came out of this event though was the realisation that through everything, despite how much water was coming in, or how much damage we were sure to find in the morning, the one thing that mattered the most was that our loved ones were safe.

Ben and I called each other to make sure we were okay and to keep each other updated, because I was further north than him I could tell him if the storm was letting up or getting worse before he attempted to go anywhere. Mum and Dad called to check that my niece and nephew, who live with them, had got home safely from school and tried to contact my sister, who was stranded at UWA (see below that is hail you can see, not snow) to make sure she was safe. Even after the storm Mum called all my brothers and sisters to see if they were okay.

UWA James Oval

Image by Ben Corry (Flickr)

No one rang to find out if their computer was okay, or if the television had been saved, it was just genuine concern for the truly important things in life, because at the end of the day; a car, a television, even a house, can be replaced but a loved one can’t be.

This event also sparked a turning point for me. Noah’s flood was an opportunity for the people of Earth to see what they were doing with their lives and start to make a change, to focus on the important things and not the things that we ‘think’ are important. I’m going to try giving this a go.

I’m going to make more time for loved ones, for collecting memories instead of possessions and to do the things that are important to me, like getting out of bed in the morning and going for my run no matter how tired or cranky I am or how windswept and debris filled the streets are. It is time to take this new beginning and use it to make something worthwhile.