Everyone's O.K.
Thirteen years and one day following Hurricane Andrew's destruction of my hometown, Hurricane Katrina rears her ugly head and decides to not play by the rules. Instead of hitting Ft. Lauderdale and continuing accross the state as predicted, she made a surprise turn Southwest and hit directly over Cutler Ridge (FYI - that's where the fam lives). I tried calling my folks last night to no avail and again this morning. Finally got a hold of a friend in the keys and my aunt in the keys and they were fine. Finally heard from my mom this morning at 7:30 CST. Her street and yard are flooded . . . deep enough to cover a car above it's headlights. She is raising my young niece and nephew (6yrs & 8 yrs respectively) and took on my aunt's three kids as a favor yesterday since they weren't expecting to be impacted by the storm. So with a house of five children ages 2 yrs - 11 yrs they bunkered down for what turned out to be a direct hit. All the large trees came down, one ripping the electrical wire, knocking their electricity out. They've fried a television, maybe two. The computer may be fried too, but they won't know until they have electricity again. Everyone is very hot from the typical August Florida temperatures and no electricity for air conditioning. Everyone is a little stressed, but aside from that, it seems they've all fared well.
As for other family members spread throughout Dade and Monroe Counties (Miami to the Keys), it seems that my Great Uncle's boat davit broke and dropped his boat into the canal, my aunt's large avocado and mango trees are down in her yard, my great grandmother (96 years old) is without electricity and seems to be a little nervous. That's all I've got so far.
It tears me apart to be 1000 miles away at times like these. I know they will all handle the clean up and repair without any problem, but I can't stand that I'm here with my electricity, my clean yard (that's relative), my normalcy (that's relative too!), and they have the hurricane damage to deal with. I feel guilty almost. I need to be there to help and to be part of what's going on right now, and instead I'm here. I feel selfish somehow. Instead of being in the office typing this blog entry, I should be in the front yard with a chain saw trying to remove the large Rainbow Eucalyptus tree that has fallen into the street from mom's yard. I should be deligating orders to the kids to get them productive in the clean up process so my mom doesn't have to feel like she has five little ones under her feet. For those of you who know me personally, you have probably come to realize that I'm a problem solver. If I know of a need or a problem, it is natural for me to find a solution. Now there's a need and I can't put a solution in place. As if that's not bad enough, it's my family that needs the solution. It kills me!
That's all for now :(
Thirteen years and one day following Hurricane Andrew's destruction of my hometown, Hurricane Katrina rears her ugly head and decides to not play by the rules. Instead of hitting Ft. Lauderdale and continuing accross the state as predicted, she made a surprise turn Southwest and hit directly over Cutler Ridge (FYI - that's where the fam lives). I tried calling my folks last night to no avail and again this morning. Finally got a hold of a friend in the keys and my aunt in the keys and they were fine. Finally heard from my mom this morning at 7:30 CST. Her street and yard are flooded . . . deep enough to cover a car above it's headlights. She is raising my young niece and nephew (6yrs & 8 yrs respectively) and took on my aunt's three kids as a favor yesterday since they weren't expecting to be impacted by the storm. So with a house of five children ages 2 yrs - 11 yrs they bunkered down for what turned out to be a direct hit. All the large trees came down, one ripping the electrical wire, knocking their electricity out. They've fried a television, maybe two. The computer may be fried too, but they won't know until they have electricity again. Everyone is very hot from the typical August Florida temperatures and no electricity for air conditioning. Everyone is a little stressed, but aside from that, it seems they've all fared well.
As for other family members spread throughout Dade and Monroe Counties (Miami to the Keys), it seems that my Great Uncle's boat davit broke and dropped his boat into the canal, my aunt's large avocado and mango trees are down in her yard, my great grandmother (96 years old) is without electricity and seems to be a little nervous. That's all I've got so far.
It tears me apart to be 1000 miles away at times like these. I know they will all handle the clean up and repair without any problem, but I can't stand that I'm here with my electricity, my clean yard (that's relative), my normalcy (that's relative too!), and they have the hurricane damage to deal with. I feel guilty almost. I need to be there to help and to be part of what's going on right now, and instead I'm here. I feel selfish somehow. Instead of being in the office typing this blog entry, I should be in the front yard with a chain saw trying to remove the large Rainbow Eucalyptus tree that has fallen into the street from mom's yard. I should be deligating orders to the kids to get them productive in the clean up process so my mom doesn't have to feel like she has five little ones under her feet. For those of you who know me personally, you have probably come to realize that I'm a problem solver. If I know of a need or a problem, it is natural for me to find a solution. Now there's a need and I can't put a solution in place. As if that's not bad enough, it's my family that needs the solution. It kills me!
That's all for now :(
posted by Forever Amber at 7:45 AM
3 Comments:
I had no idea there was a storm system brewing even. Glad to hear everyone is unharmed. I'll pray.
Bummer. I know that feeling. I'm so glad everyone is unhurt though. I have not been paying attention to the storm news so was unaware of Katrina. Keep us posted.
So sorry to hear about the news, glad to hear everyone is unharmed. You and your faimly will be in our prayers.
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