Rita adventure: Part 1
Well, Wednesday, little Darrin and I headed off toward my family's place in Jasper, along with my dad. (okay, step-dad, let's just say I have two dads) Anyway, we left at 4:30 PM and arrived at 11:30 PM. Not too bad, right? Well, since so many areas close to our place in Pearland were being evauated--mandatory no less--and because school and my hubby's other jobs were to be closed, he decided to come join us. He left at 3:00 AM. And arrived at 5:00 AM THE NEXT DAY (Friday). Holy cow.
Miracle #1: He made it safely (23 hours of it on ONE tank of gas!), and although the kitties left plenty of presents for us in the car, they were safe too. Whew!
Friday evening, winds slowly begin to pick up in Jasper; Rita decided Pearland wasn't interesting enough anymore and took our lead to head for Jasper too. Oh boy. :) Now, I don't want belittle anyone's disaster experience or how much they suffered or lost due to the storm. I am not writing to have a gripe-fest. I am fully aware that, although the storm's eye ended up really close to, if not in, Jasper, that it left a hell of a lot of destruction on its way there from the Gulf. I feel for you, people. This is not your story, but maybe it can help provide you with enoughe faith or hope to help you overcome your personal disaster experience. I am relating my story because it is the only one I am witness to, so there you go. At any rate, we did all find it more than a little annoying that we spent a LOT of time on the road (being hungry and thirsty, needing to relieve ourselves, etc.), just to go and experience the storm, rather than stayng home. We were glad to be able to be with our extended family though, and not have to worry how they were faring.
Overnight, things were getting very loud outside, and we could hear trees breaking now and again, and bits of who-knows-what were being swept across the roof. My mom and I took Darrin and holed up in the hallway as planned. Our men decided things weren't quite bad enough to warrant leaving the comfort of their beds. Turns out they were right, as nothing fell on top of them (or us) during the night. (See Miracle #2 in the next post for details on THAT.) Still, we women of the house felt it would be very embarassing indeed if we had chosen a safe place and just decided not to be there when disaster struck. So, we got comfy in the hallway, which ran down the center of the house, had no windows, and contained the main support wall of the house. All the previous day had been spent stocking the hallway wth the necessities of life, adn we were as ready for anything as we could be.
There was a hall closet, too, which we had earlier prepared with pillows and blankets (and a bag of supplies like food and water), and a mattress propped overhead for protection. This was to be Darrin's hiding place, and mine as well, since I am his primary food source. Not exactly the best night's sleep I had, being folded up like human origami into the tiny closetspace, but I was sure that my baby was as safe as possible, and that was worth it.
On to day 2...
Miracle #1: He made it safely (23 hours of it on ONE tank of gas!), and although the kitties left plenty of presents for us in the car, they were safe too. Whew!
Friday evening, winds slowly begin to pick up in Jasper; Rita decided Pearland wasn't interesting enough anymore and took our lead to head for Jasper too. Oh boy. :) Now, I don't want belittle anyone's disaster experience or how much they suffered or lost due to the storm. I am not writing to have a gripe-fest. I am fully aware that, although the storm's eye ended up really close to, if not in, Jasper, that it left a hell of a lot of destruction on its way there from the Gulf. I feel for you, people. This is not your story, but maybe it can help provide you with enoughe faith or hope to help you overcome your personal disaster experience. I am relating my story because it is the only one I am witness to, so there you go. At any rate, we did all find it more than a little annoying that we spent a LOT of time on the road (being hungry and thirsty, needing to relieve ourselves, etc.), just to go and experience the storm, rather than stayng home. We were glad to be able to be with our extended family though, and not have to worry how they were faring.
Overnight, things were getting very loud outside, and we could hear trees breaking now and again, and bits of who-knows-what were being swept across the roof. My mom and I took Darrin and holed up in the hallway as planned. Our men decided things weren't quite bad enough to warrant leaving the comfort of their beds. Turns out they were right, as nothing fell on top of them (or us) during the night. (See Miracle #2 in the next post for details on THAT.) Still, we women of the house felt it would be very embarassing indeed if we had chosen a safe place and just decided not to be there when disaster struck. So, we got comfy in the hallway, which ran down the center of the house, had no windows, and contained the main support wall of the house. All the previous day had been spent stocking the hallway wth the necessities of life, adn we were as ready for anything as we could be.
There was a hall closet, too, which we had earlier prepared with pillows and blankets (and a bag of supplies like food and water), and a mattress propped overhead for protection. This was to be Darrin's hiding place, and mine as well, since I am his primary food source. Not exactly the best night's sleep I had, being folded up like human origami into the tiny closetspace, but I was sure that my baby was as safe as possible, and that was worth it.
On to day 2...
posted by Brandi Rae | 12:17 PM
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