We finally have power and water in our house now, and slowly pieces are starting to fall back into places where they belong. I wouldn’t say they’re going back to normal because the pieces have definitely been changed and affected. For who knows how long.
The storm came. It came with a freaking vengeance. Like nothing I could have ever prepared myself for or expected or imagined. It was massive.
Last moment I had to collect my thoughts was in a rush – hurried after working late to close up the office last, last Thursday – ironically September 11th. I had worked late to try and give as many people I could an opportunity to pick up their paychecks at the office instead of mailing them. It took me almost 2 hours to get home the back way, but I probably made better time than if I had gone on the freeway. Mom and Uncle Bill were stuck for a few hours going 15 mph on the way to Oklahoma evacuating.
The rest of my Thursday evening and Friday were a blur of hurricane prep. Laundry. Supply gathering. Cleaning. Digging. Raking. Boarding up windows. Muttering curse words to whirling skies. Fear. Fear.
Oh, and more Fear of the Unknown. We hadn’t decided on where we were going to weather the storm. I let Zach do that. I didn’t want to be the one to chose. We ended up deciding to stay at the “Fortress” – at Zach’s Dad’s house, next door to the Shop where we live.
I made brownies before we had our pre-hurricane meal. If the world was going to end, I wanted to make sure that we at least ate dessert. I just work that way I guess.
I made myself a stiff drink – stiff enough to calm my nerves, but not so sloshy that I couldn’t function. I did a card reading that washed away a little bit more of that anxiety. It just hinted that we were where we were supposed to be. It helped. I was calm and able to sleep until the storm hit and turned off the lights.
It was quiet and loud all at the same time. The creaks and groans of metal, wood, and all things man had tried to piece together in shelter. The freight train and whirring shreaks of the 100-plus mile per hour winds. The sharp and swift snap of trees. The crash and crunch of where the trees were thrown and tossed. Everything was kissed by salt – as if this was just a bad dream while on vacation again at the beach house. The speed and sheer force for the wind was so much more than I had expected. The water had always been my worry, and I’d given little thought to what wind was capable of.
Morning broke and we had no power, just a few rooms run off the generator. We had no running water because our house runs off the Well. Every surface outside was littered with flecks of green and brown. Several trees were torn from the ground and slapped elsewhere – on power lines and rooftops. Some were snapped plain in half.
We had 2 basically where Zach and I live. One on the small shed supported up by a small fishing boat. One large crushing the back roof of paint booth and draped across the building roof, stuck in place by the fan’s exhaust shroud. Cables ripped and stripped from where they once were. The guys tried to go out to survey damage once we knew the storm had passed (after hours of wind and rain). They got stuck for a little while – a tree fell after they drove down the road and we had to get a chainsaw to cut it out and to the side.
Days were filled with yard work and more yard work. There were people from all over the country trying to work with the power companies to restore power to the millions of people in our Houston area – the disaster area compared to the size of New York state. We tried to distract each other with cool drinks and late night Scrabble bouts. The weather turned cool which made the lack of A/C bearable. I eventually got used to the gentle whir of the generator at night and now kind of wonder how I’ll sleep without it tonight. Outlook would go back and forth from bleak to elated constantly.
I felt cut off and disconnected. The first few days my phone would work – hit or miss. Nothing like what I was used to. I had to wait 2 hours in the car for Gas. Stores were normally closed, or their shelves were bare and people could only go in “One family member per group.” We had assigned dinnerware. We’d drive to shower in the dark, but at least there was a shower. And sometimes it might be hot. We gathered around radios and battery-operated TV’s for news for a change. I think that was the first time my Radio’s ever been on AM, embarrassingly enough. Everything got singed with the scent of fire. I actually welled up a bit with tears when Candy and I went out together and I saw a WORKING stoplight. I worried about how we would keep Taylor’s insulin cold. She’s only 11 years old and our only niece. Their power was out and we all looked for ice to keep her medicine cool in coolers. I was so glad Mom went to Lawton as much as I missed her. Her nursing home/rehab got water and lost power. They were on generators for quite a while with the rest of us.
I reassured friends and family that it was all OK – not as bad as it sounded, even if they said it might be a month again before we had lights. I eventually had work to distract me with its normal stress again. I was glad in a bittersweet way. A few friends and family didn’t have much to go back to – some work places completely destroyed or time delay due to power outages and water.
I got depressed as the days worn on, but it really was only a week or so. I felt like a wuss in reflection because for us, it REALLY wasn’t that bad. Some places for some people, no lights, no water and no end in sight is a reality – every day. And so many so close to here have lost EVERYTHING. I think back on where we stayed over Memorial Day weekend quite a bit now. I’m not 100% sure, but they say that beach is gone completely now. The house we made home for a short while is now probably stilts or just debris. It really makes you think of all that we take for granted here every day. It will take me a while to not kind of act surprised when I flick a switch and light comes on. Hopefully this new spark of thought won’t fade. We're home now. Now for the overwhelming task of cleaning it all up and clearing our heads again. Like I said, things are falling back into place, but altered with the opportunity of variable change.
All for now, going to try and sleep.
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