- Helping board up my parents house
- Parking my car at my uncle's warehouse
- Packing my duffle in case shit got real
- Charging my phone and back up batteries
- Charging my electric toothbrush
- Putting batteries in flashlights
- Buying bread, green beans, and chips
I probably should have been more concerned than I was, but I did not allow everyone else's stress and worry get to me before the storm. We lost power around 8PM Sunday, September 10th, so we were without power and A/C early on. It didn't take long for the house to get fucking hot! By 9PM, I was asleep on the tile floor in the kitchen with my pillow, sleep mask, and Beat headphones blaring music. The tile was the coolest spot inside and I couldn't hear the storm with my headphones on. I woke up briefly abound 5:30AM and moved to my bed for about two hours until the heat was too much to bare. So yeah, I slept through hurricane Irma.
It was still very windy Monday morning, but I helped clean the yard and move debris to the road. Although the neighborhood lost a lot of trees, the houses didn't have any major damage. The lake was up to the fence in the backyard and all of the docks were under water. As soon as our county lifted the curfew at 6PM on Monday, I went to my uncle's warehouse to get my car. We had gotten a generator and everyone claimed a spot in front of the fan without any room for me, so I slept on a patio chair on the porch with the noise of our neighbor's generator on one side and the noise of our generator on the other. Again, I used my sleep mask, and beat headphones to get to REM.
Tuesday morning I went over to my uncle's house to help him clean up his yard and the mess that was left behind after his sun room roof blew off. I went into work at 2PM and left around 5PM. At home, we had more fans plugged into the generator on Tuesday night! It was still too fucking hot to get comfortable though and I found myself sleeping on the porch for the second night in a row with the annoying generators.
Irma taught me that I am higher to maintain than I realized. I need air conditioning! Please, spare me the whole "it could have been worse speech". Plus, it's difficult to get ready in the dark with a flashlight and cold showers are not my cup of tea. I wasn't stressed before the storm, but I was certainly stressed and uncomfortable after the storm. My bowels were proof with irregular BM's and some stomach pain. Thankfully, running friends with power offered to let me stay with them! I ended up staying two nights (Wednesday and Thursday) with Badass Doreen and her family. Her kindness is overwhelmingly amazing and I owe her big time! It was great getting to know her and her family better.
I went back home after work on Friday because our power came on. Things are slowing getting back to normal...whatever that is.
