The Ice storm.

It was the winter of 1984 when our state was hit by a major ice storm. I was fifteen at the time. I can remember the trees cracking all around the house, and then the power being knocked out for most of the rural communities in our state. It would be three very long days before the power company would be able to restore all power in our area. It was because of the loss of power to our home that my mother and I were forced to sleep in the same bed to help keep each other warm.

My mother was thirty-five at the time, and had lost my stepfather to cancer about three months earlier. My biological father had been killed in Vietnam before I was born. He had left for Vietnam without even knowing that my mother was pregnant with me. He was killed before her letter telling him about the pregnancy could reach him.

My stepfather had been very ill for six months prior to his death. Most of that time was spent in and out of the hospital. My mother took his death, and the loneliness that it left her with, very hard. Although, my mother and I were already extremely close, my stepfather’s death seemed to draw us even closer together.

My mother met my stepfather (Dave) when I was around a year old. They went together for a while before getting married. She was twenty years old when they finally did.

My mother and Dave had tried for year to have kids but never could. It was after around two years of trying to get pregnant with no success, that my mother went to the doctor to see why she hadn’t been able to get pregnant. She found out that she had some scare tissue in her fallopian tubes that was making conception all but impossible.


Part 2

It was lucky for us that the weather forecast gave ample warning of the winter ice storm headed our direction. It gave us plenty of time to store up the necessary provisions. Living in the country, with an all electric home, taught you the necessity of being prepared for winter storms.

It was just after dark when the temperature began to fall rapidly, and then the rain began to freeze on the trees and power lines. It was only around an hour later when the power went out in our area. The house became cold in no time. The candles did help with the darkness, but gave little in the way of any heat.

My mother started to put several layers of quilts on her bed. She told me to get ready for bed, because we were going to have to sleep in the same bed tonight to help keep each other warm. I didn’t think that much of it at the time. I knew that it was going to get very cold in the house and figured that it made good sense to use each others body heat to keep warm.

When my mother came back from the bathroom she had on one of her long flannel nightgowns. I stripped down to my boxers and crawled into the bed pulling the covers up to my chin. I watched as my mother pulled back the covers and climbed into the bed. She reached over and blew out the candle, and then it was now totally dark in the room.

“Hey! Come over here and snuggle up against me,” my mother requested. “You’re going to have to keep me warm tonight. Okay?”

“Sure!” I replied as I snuggled up behind her.

She pushed herself back into me, and then took my hand and pulled it over her, holding it against her belly. I lay there against my mother with her butt pushed back into my groin. I could feel the warmth of her body radiating through her flannel gown.