I’ve lived in East Texas for over thirty years and have lived through some pretty powerful storms. I’m originally from the Seattle area, born and bred. I’m use to ‘weather’. But this storm hit me a little closer to home.
I was on the phone with my friend and co-writer, Jeannie when the storm hit our small East Texas town of Marshall. We were editing our novel together and she mentioned the power might out it was blowing so hard. I kept telling her ‘how funny, we’ve got nothing!’ Sure enough her power went out and I hung up the phone thankful that it wasn’t going to bother us that much, but worried about her.
An hour later…WHAM. Ike hit in all its fury and WE lost power. Ok, ok, we rode out the storm in our 5th wheel hooked up to a generator while I happily cooked stew and cornbread confident we’d be fine once it passed. Oh..our 5th wheel is sheltered securely and wasn’t really in any danger of being blown away.
We watched in awe as trees bowed to the earth in the high winds and the rain defied gravity and found its own path in the straight line winds.
It soon blew over and we emerged to find our large property littered with debris, but no trees down and no damage to our numerous buildings.
Thankful we moved back to the big house to wait for the power to come back on. My husband hooked the generator up to the house and we had television, light and the freezer. Good. We’ll be fine.
Not so! Here it is 4 days later and we are still without electricity. I’ve spent my time listening to heart rending stories of the devastation, loss and desolation. My heart goes out to those who’ve lost so much.
As for me…it’s been a learning experience. It brought me back to the days of my childhood when we didn’t have all the modern conveniences of today.
Do I feel like these are hardships? Actually, no. It’s a much needed reminder of how very fortunate I am. Ok, so we’re living out of a cooler now, we carry ‘pop up’ lights into every room. We take sponge baths and wash our hair in cold water. Yeah, I know I could heat the water on the gas stove in the 5th wheel, but I’m too lazy!
Gosh, we ate at the Sonic last night. THAT’s a hardship, huh?
I’ve watched my husband keep gas in the generator, clean up the debris, bring home water and ice and make sure the rest of us are comfortable and not too inconvenienced.
They say we might not get power back for three more days. Well, that’s okay because each day I find something new that I’ve done without that reminds me I CAN do without it. Do I want to? No. But I can.
I’ve watched my husband teach my grandsons how to work the generator and the chain saw and repair the property. They’ve bonded even more as he teaches them to be the men of the house.
So IKE, yes, you were furious and vast and unrelenting, but you have brought me more self awareness, thankfulness and joy in my family. It’s been a time to bond and work together and rely on one another. It’s given me time to reflect on our ancestors who knew such hardship in carving out this country of ours. Could I have survived a life such as theirs? Maybe.
I’m grateful for these lessons learned and the microscope we’re under as a family together. These are good times and memories made to share later on. Remember Hurricane IKE?
No being without electricity isn’t fun, but I fooled IKE! I’ve had wireless internet the whole time!!
Shhh…don’t tell him!
