Obviously, these are not complete lists. They are my snarky thoughts as I am feeling them at the moment. I am coming out of my hurricane hole. Irma put me in a funk. This felt like the longest storm - and I was around for all the 2004-05 hurricanes and went without power for weeks! Irma drained me mentally, emotionally. She stressed me out.
I should not complain. I know that. We made it through unscathed. I don't even know how or why. I am still shocked we never lost power. Our house suffered no damage. The only thing in our world to take a huge hit was our bank account. I am eternally grateful for this.
Let me share our hurricane experience with you. Everyone's is different. And if you are not a Floridian, you may be wondering what it's like. So here it goes: Sunday (Labor Day weekend)
I am vaguely aware of some disturbance in the tropics. Actually, by this point Irma was a cat 5. But she was still so far out. I ran into Publix to grab water and ice for the boat... As I was walking to check out, I thought Maybe I should buy extra water, just in case. Nah.
Sunday continued with very little conversation or thought directed toward Irma. We had a marvelous time on the boat with friends. Monday (Labor Day)
Stu spent the better part of the morning in the attic. Our TV in the family room did not have cable running to it because the builders put the cable on the exterior wall. Clearly men designed this... any woman would have pointed out that the interior wall is not big enough to put furniture on. But I digress. Back to the cable. Stu was running it because
Duh. Football season.
I did not overload my cart with water. I only took what I thought would be the minimum for my family of 4. My mom suggested I get Britta pitchers and filter water ahead of time and store it in pitchers. Excellent idea Mom!
around looking for things that would keep the kids busy and entertained, grabbed some yummies (see my Little Debbies and donuts), and picked up 2 flashlights (batteries included).
Then I topped off my car at the WaWa. Wednesday - Friday
Our decision was made when Stu found a generator at Home Depot. We felt fairly confident that we would be able to weather the storm in our newly constructed concrete block home. Then the track shifted ever-so-slightly toward the west. And we felt better about not getting a direct hit from a cat 4-5. But equally as concerned about taking the brunt of the wind (the northeast side is typically the worst).
But (as my Dad kindly reminded me on Friday morning), I made my bed and now it was time to lie in it. We expected the weather to deteriorate quickly on Saturday, so we went out to dinner on Friday night. Stu and I thought it'd be nice to get the kids out of the house for a bit of fun. Saturday
As I said, I was anticipating the weather to be seriously terrible. But Irma seemed to enjoy Cuba quite a bit. And she was taking her sweet time getting to Florida.
We kept the slider shutters off until just after dinner. It was essentially a normal Saturday - except that we did not go anywhere, and it was nearly impossible to find a good football game to watch.
Sunday
On our first trip in (pictured above), both kids were so nervous. Immediately after entering one said "Oops, excuse me." Then the next, "Excuse me too." Poor nervous tummies. Poor Mommy's nose.
That was pretty much how it went:
-Hang out in the family room -Watch the news/weather channel exclusively -Listen to Riley complain about wanting to watch Captain Underpants on the big tv -Eat. Eat all the food. -Run to the safe room -Send kids to the safe room -Hear yelling from the safe room for Mommy to come join
I fell asleep very early on Sunday night. I think the week of stress and preparation had finally kicked my butt. I slept like a rock.
When we woke up on Monday morning, the storm was pretty much out of our area. We contacted family and friends to see how everyone did. Most were without power, but no one we spoke to sustained physical damage - except one of my sisters. A tree broke off and fell on her roof.
I need a vacation. A vacation from the emotional stress. These things are so exhausting. Who's with me?
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