Hurricane, Blurricane 1

With the season's first real threat looming off the Gulf Coast, I figured it was time to talk about one of my favorite things, hurricanes. Except...no, not really a favorite.

I don't know which potential natural disaster you have where you live, but in these parts, we have hurricanes. I've asked more than once why can't we move to a place where there are no hurricanes? To which Hubby replies, no matter where you live, there's going to be the possibility of some kind of natural disaster there and at least with hurricanes, you have warning. OK, but for me, that also means several more days to worry.

Now, I'm 44 and have lived in this area all but about 5 years of my life. In all those years, I've only had to evacuate 3 times. One of those times, Hurricane Gustav, turned out to be nothing, just kind of a long weekend at our daughter's house with friends. The other 2 evacuations were a little more dramatic and, since we all love drama, I'll talk about those.

The first one was in 2005 with Hurricane Rita. Rita hit about 3 weeks or so after Hurricane Katrina. I was still a single mom at the time, with Son being about 8 years old. After watching in horror all the devastation from Katrina, I was packing my bags after the first weather report that said Rita could be headed our way. My father, on the other hand, wasn't so concerned.

It seemed that in HIS lifetime, he'd hardly ever evacuated and besides, "They always turn." Hmm...After MUCH, MUCH convincing, ending with "If you want to be rescued from the roof of your house by a helicopter, fine by me, but your grandson and I are leaving," he finally agreed that maybe we should go to the camp.

The camp is our family's weekend place. Normally, it takes about 1.5 hours to get there. It's inland, so we figured it'd be fine. We also invited 2 other families to go with us. After our 1.5 hour trip turned into about a 4 hour trip, we finally made it around 2:00am. We got the kids settled and finally went to sleep ourselves, safe and sound. Except...no, not really.

At around 6:00am I start getting phone calls from Ex. Ex is Son's dad. He was calling to inform me that Rita had indeed turned, just like Father had said, and was now headed more towards where we were and he thought we really needed to leave. Of course. Did I mention that at the camp there are lots and lots of large trees? Yeah, we needed to leave.

So, I jump up, wake Father up, and explain the situation. Father turns on the TV and that's where he and the other men who were with us sat for HOURS "deciding what to do." The whole time, Ex is calling asking us to come to Austin, about 4 hours away, saying he could help find places for everyone to stay, etc. I keep going to Father, who is now talking about going a little farther north for a night, then driving back to the camp, blah, blah, blah.

I decided that didn't sound too fun for me. Here I am, a single mom with 1 kid, 2 dogs, and most of everything I held dear crammed into the back of my Explorer Sport. The last thing I wanted to do was drive all over creation every day or two for the next week. I wanted to get to safety and stay there until the whole thing was over.

I decided the best thing for me to do is go to Austin. I told Mother about my plan and that I wished she and Father and the rest of the clan would come, too, saying Ex had offered his help in any way possible. But, alas, Father and the other two men were still coniving, so I left.

Yes, me, Son, and the dogs left them there, with Mother crying, and headed for Austin. By this time the roads were jammed with evacuees. Ex had mapped out a route for me, taking back roads whenever possible. One of the big problems with Rita's evacuation, was a gas shortage, so Ex told me to start looking for gas when my tank got half empty. I did, and only once did I stop at a station with no gas. We made it to Austin in only 7 hours, which was MUCH better than the 24 hour drive some would be making that day to other parts of the state. I was finally safe.

Now, back to the parental units. They had decided to wait until the next day, Thursday, the day Rita would hit, to leave and go north. By the time they left, the city officials weren't letting anyone leave the area. The storm was eminent, so my parents and our friends ended up having to go to a local high school that had been set up as a shelter. Mother's stories would have been hilarious if they had been fiction.

Once the storm hit, there was no electricity in the high school. There were about 60 people staying in the gym and it seemed that each of those people had a dog. The dogs barked during the night anytime anyone moved around. One would bark, followed by the other 59. There was also a poor lady having seizures.

I was beyond worried. Father, who gets sick when he is stressed, got a terrible throat infection. Each time I talked to him, he sounded worse. I called Brother, who lives in Wisconsin, (where there are no hurricanes) several times a day in tears. We were both trying to find hotel rooms ANYWHERE for them. It was horrible.

I think they stayed in the shelter 4 or 5 nights, then were able to travel to central Louisiana, where my mother's cousin lives. Finally.

My take is I hate hurricanes! I believe that God is in control and has a plan for all things, but it is still difficult not to worry in the face of such stressful situations. However, there is comfort in knowing that God will never leave me or forsake me. Or the parental units. Even in a shelter with no electricity.

Tune in tomorrow to read about my experience with a hurricane known as Ike.

What's your take?