Hurricane Irene

Hurricanes and living in North Carolina go hand in hand. Hurricane Irene descended on the second birthday I have ever spent (in my memory) in this great state.

Hurricane Bonnie had the pleasure of being my not-so-honored guest on my birthday in 1998, and my family and I spent it in my Nana's condo in Myrtle Beach playing scrabble and consuming the case of retsina, bucket of feta cheese, and 5# tub of olives we had procured for our beach vacation lest they go bad. We watched as the roof shingles flew off buildings across the parking lot, and as palm trees bent and then uprooted and fell over. The crashing waves was always audible over the gusting wind, and there was a certain thrill to being there after everyone had evacuated. My Dad was in charge and calling the shots, and at 19 I was still OK with him doing so. If he said we'd be all right, we would be. And if he said we could find a Key Lime Pie for my birthday a day late, we could. (and we did).

This year Hurricane Irene threatened, and it quickly became apparent that we would most likely not be in danger's way. The spawn's sister and grandmother live out in Windsor, however, and I am very glad that they decided to come ride the storm out with us instead of staying there. They got hit REALLY hard last year in the flooding in that region, and definitely didn't want to be there in case their house was lost again.

We spent the day of the hurricane not doing too much - not unlike the weather. We had gusts of wind, and a few stray short showers, but other than that not much. In fact as much as I probably shouldn't admit it, the weather was possibly the nicest we've had in a while. Often clear with a crisp breeze and milder temperatures. The main damage we sustained was a tomato trellis falling down, and our pop-up deer blind blowing over. Other than that, not much. The manfriend and I still managed to get out for my birthday with both of us being tired being a much bigger obstacle to overcome than anything the storm threw at us.

But we were far luckier than many - many of the manfriend's friends and family back in the eastern part of the state are still without power (or have just gotten it back), and the flooding in upstate NY where I have family and friends I consider family is alarmingly extensive. It is so easy for me to forget that these things are SO BIG and beyond my scope - I wish that it didn't take a hurricane to remind me.

For now I'll do my best to maintain perspective by keeping them in my thoughts and trying to be more productive than blindly wishing there was something I could do....