She’s here. And I figure I should get some thoughts down before the power goes out. You don’t have to be in the eye of the hurricane to lose power in my neighborhood, a bad thunderstorm will do the trick.
There is a constant grey outside and a light sprinkle of rain that comes and goes. The humidity has lessened, but not with cool air, just still air, an ironic contrast to the activity at grocery stores, gas stations, and places like Costco and Sam’s Wholesale over the last three days.
Forty- eight hours ago, I had two cans of tuna fish, three pitchers full of water, three Gatorades, a box of cereal, and a bag of coal for my grill. Then, driving home from work, I reflected on whether I was being too cavalier – deeming a post hurricane electrical outage as an opportunity to get some reading done, do some stretching exercises.
I stopped at the grocery store.
There was an impulse to wander down the chip aisle and go to town. I mean, hey, they are non-perishables. Common sense won. I got some flavored water, trail mix, and thinking I could warm water using the grill, got a box of macaroni and cheese.
Once you gas up, stock up, and board up your windows, there is nothing you can do. I did promise my daughter ( in New York) that I would minimize my driving this weekend. We’ve had other high category hurricanes come through here and it’s always a weird feeling for me, having a concrete understanding that, beyond preparation and prayer, all you can do is wait until it’s over.
I am one of those ‘ If you work hard enough, you can fix it, overcome it, or accomplish it’. (This is, for me, a character flaw.) So, like everyone else, except those that had to relocate, I’ll wait for it to pass. It’s hard to relax, even knowing I’m not in one of the more vulnerable areas
Some things make you feel really small.
Irma’s one of them.
