Growing up in Southwest Florida, I am not new to this phenomenon of hurricanes. I've been through them before and remember being nervous, but never being scared. Honestly y'all, this has been one of the scariest weeks of my life.
Everyone is freaking out. Even when we aren't freaking out, the rest of the world is. Josh and I had a decision to make on Wednesday night. We knew we didn't have school Thursday and Friday, and we knew the hurricane was coming this weekend. Evacuate or stay? We made the decision to stay.
Why? I'm sure that's the question on your mind. Well a couple reasons weighed into our decision. First, I have a grandpa who needs 24 hour around-the-clock care. At the time, they said that he need to leave his home on the Fort Lauderdale coast, and evacuate elsewhere. So now he's in Fort Myers and staying with my parents. Second, my dad is a pharmacist, which means he's responsible for being at the hospital when a hurricane hits. He couldn't evacuate, so my mom and sister were staying put also. Third, Josh has both his parents and grandparents in town. After talk of evacuation, they decided to stay also. We are big kids and can make her own decisions, but what is more important during a tough time than family? Also, we have a pup. Our pup is like our child. He goes wherever we go, and not a ton of hotels and such are friendly for a dog like Cincy (a big ole 80 pound coonhound). Lastly, we have only lived in our house for two years. It is an old frame house built in the early 80's. We don't have shutters and weren't at all prepared to get our house "Hurricane ready" in a short amount of time to leave. So here we stay.
Evacuating is a whole other beast. We had lots of friends who made that decision, and more power to them y'all. We stayed in touch with them and listened to their journeys. It wasn't an easy one guys. Florida only has two major highways and those are the only ways out of the state. Think about all the people trying to leave traveling on only those two roads. It wasn't pretty. Some of them got off multiple exits before they found one with gas. Some of them were in a car for almost 20 hours before they got to their destination (which was only 8-10 hours of normal travel time). Some did this with dogs, while others did this with small children. And just think - everyone will be entering the state again at the same time, so yes - more traffic.
For those of you who have never experienced an impending natural disaster, you might not understand how this works. Let me explain it to you – everyone panics and everything disappears. Everyone panics as in I like to think that people are generally good, but when people are at Costco arguing with employees over how much water they can take because my their own admittance "they don't give a f*** about what other people need" - yeah that's panic. Everyone is trying to prep their house, many people for the first time or for their first hurricane. That's why people with houses the size of ours are leaving with enough plywood to board up the White House and leaving some of us with none after hours of waiting in line. It's the reason there are limits on things like plywood and water. It's the reason stores and restaurants are closing. Everyone is panicking. People don't know what to expect and that's what causes the panic. The cone of uncertainty is just that - uncertain. With every shift and movement, another city sinks deeper into the panic. Then on top of that, everyone you've ever known is texting you telling you how worried they are about you. Well yes, we are worried about us too. We just haven't really had time to sit back long enough to let it sink in.
Every moment of preparing for a hurricane is basically just waiting. You're waiting in a line for plywood at a Home Depot that knows a truck is coming today, they just don't know when. You're waiting in a line because you saw on Facebook that generators were delivered to a store and you hope they still have some when you get up there. You wait in line at a Publix to get water so that you can survive in the coming days without power. You wait while your significant other runs into Walmart and Targets and Winn Dixies in an effort to find simple snacks that you can live off of like bread and peanut butter. You wait for people to answer your Facebook pleas about a station that hasn't run out of gas yet, and then you wait some more while people in front of you fill up their tank and five gas cans to run their generators. Maybe you even wait in a 5 hour line to enter a shelter because you just don't feel safe. Then finally, when you think you might have enough snacks and water and your house is boarded up and you're exhausted, you take your last shower for what might be days and then you do the most excruciating wait of all - you wait for this beast to make landfall. You wait to see what parts of your house, car and other worldly possessions will survive the storm. You wait to see if your classroom and school are still standing. You wait to see if you still have neighbors, if your family still has their house, and if you still have your job or favorite restaurant to go back to. You wait to see if life will ever be the same again.
So in the waiting, sweet friends, I encourage you not to panic. Panicking won't get you anywhere and worrying won't add one hour to your life. Irma is coming whether we're ready or not. People are not replaceable. Possessions are. That doesn't mean you can't put all of your favorite things or items that hold memories in a shoebox and sleep with it right next to your head. But while you're picking out those things and the memories come flooding back, just remember that you're going to get through this. I shed tears today as my husband and I sat in our living room praying over our home and asking God to spare it. It's okay to cry. It's an emotional time and the uncertainty of it all is overwhelming. You don't have to be strong all the time. Just remember that together we're #FloridaStrong and there are people around you who will be there for you through all of this and in the aftermath. Surround yourself with those you love and those who will be there with you to pick up the mess that Irma leaves behind. If you're near family or friends, hug the ones you love a little tighter and be thankful that you don't have to go through this alone.
And in the coming days when it seems so surreal that everyone else around the world is going on with their daily lives while you feel like yours is in shambles (or will be soon), just know that you're not alone. That there are some of us who are feeling the same way, and that together we will get through this.
Stay safe & stay strong,
Hilary
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