Surviving Hurricane Irma, Part 2

Two weeks post-Irma and I'm just getting around to writing this... We spent just over a week up visiting family. We left on Tuesday the 5th and got back to Florida on Wednesday the 13th. We got back to our apartment first and miraculously we had power already! But because it was empty of furniture, we went back to my aunt and uncle's house who did not have power. Luckily, we were only out of power there for less than 24 hours and it rained that night so we opened all the windows and had a nice breeze all night that made it bearable. 

There were a few blessings about the hurricane that I've tried to keep in mind whenever I bitterly think about the stress it caused. The first is that none of my family had severe damage to their homes from the hurricane. The second is that Brian got paid for all but two days that we were gone. The third is that I got to see my family and some friends which was wonderful. 

Driving back was really strange. The worst damage we saw was around the Jacksonville area. Almost every billboard was ripped or damaged. There were the big overhead highway signs that had been knocked down and lots of trees down and debris everywhere. There were lines of 45-50 cars at gas stations that had gas and police officers directing traffic and making sure there weren't any fights. Empty gas stations with bags over the gas handles everywhere. Stores completely out of water and bread. Grocery shopping with no frozen/cold foods because stores lost power and everything went bad. Cleaning out refrigerators that hadn't had power in over a week. Our church has been sending people to the Naples area every weekend to do disaster relief and it's heartbreaking to know the numbers of people who lost everything farther south. 

Somehow we didn't hit any traffic on the way out or in, except in a few spots where they were doing roadwork. We didn't get stuck on the side of the road with no gas (but we were prepared with a 5 gallon gas can in the trunk just in case), and Brian even worked with my stepdad a few days and made some extra cash on the side. We were by all accounts extremely blessed and somehow, I can look back on the stress and anticipation of the week now that we're past it and realize how lucky we were. I'm so glad we decided to evacuate since most people that stayed were without power for over a week. It was an extra blessing because I definitely wouldn't have wanted to put Tatum through that. Plus, we enjoyed some wonderful autumn weather, Tatum got to spend some time with two sets of grandparents, and I got some mental health time surrounded by green mountains which definitely did my soul good. 

Thank you to everyone that reached out and was concerned about us! We are lucky to be doing so good and we successfully made it through our first natural disaster (and hopefully our last in Florida).