On the Sunday that Irma churned up Florida, we were preparing for the worst, and hoping for the best, watching it all unfold on TV, Twitter, and Facebook.
The forecasts were NOT reassuring.
When CNN sent their silver fox Anderson Cooper, and NBC sent Lester and Al to Tampa for giddy live hurricane broadcasts, we figured we were screwed. All we could do was watch and wait.
We looked for the positive stories.
And comic relief.
We hoped Floridians would recognize which ones were fake news.
But mostly we obsessively watched our home security cameras for storm status updates, until the power was cut by wind. Somehow, we thought it would be comforting to see flood waters rise to our porch and seep into our living room, or giant grandfather oaks in the neighborhood crash down.
Luckily, at the last minute, the storm turned and weakened, sparing us the worst of its damage. I can't remember a time when we felt more grateful. We said our thankful prayers, especially one for the cozy, safe night's sleep we had in Ringgold, far away from Irma.
The next day we celebrated, and waited for the power to come back on through the entire state of Florida so that we could return home.
The power came back on in our neighborhood, and we started our trek back home.
The drive was unsettling in a Zombie Apocalypse/War Time kind of way. This sounds overly dramatic, but it's true. When the whole state is off the power grid, there is no gas for your car and no food along the way. This puts people on edge, making them do dangerous, desperate things. It's not a good feeling to be part of the congested bumper-to-bumper highway full in all 3 lanes, creeping back down into a peninsula.
There were some glimmers of hope, like the hundreds of power trucks coming down from the midwest to help. But, the whole experience made us feel especially compassionate for families in Puerto Rico after they were devastated by Hurricane Maria.
Once we got settled at home, we were so grateful to be spared, that we were inspired to help our neighbor who lost everything when a tree fell on her house. We've never been so happy to be able to come home and go back to school and work like normal!
