Musings of the Chronologically Challenged™ Fourth Generation

 
ISABEL EPILOGUE

About the only thing I can tell you about Hurricane Isabel, that you haven't already heard or seen via the media or TV, is my personal tale. With three crates of cats, one Rottweiler, and enough supplies for them and me for a week, we headed 75 miles inland on Tuesday. Other than some chaos and inconveniences, Isabel was very kind to me and my street facing the ocean. I feel almost guilty for being so relieved, since I know from previous personal experiences that there are so many folks still hurting. And they will hurt for a long time. Disaster aftermath is much more protracted than the public hears about from the news media. Property will eventually be replaced, but the lives lost are sad to contemplate. Please send good thoughts to those devastated people in North Carolina, Virginia, and wherever Isabel lashed out.

Friday dawned so beautiful and peaceful, it was difficult to believe the destruction seen on TV the day and night before. Geraldo Rivera had been televising from Indian Beach, which is about five miles from my house, and it looked terrible! It was deja vu driving back to the coast, not knowing what to expect when I arrived home. So many times before, the same trip home had ended in horror. But this time, the house and yard were almost like we left it, other than about a dozen shingles blown off the roof, lying about the yard. A deep breath of relief and thanks to God.

After evacuating, It always takes several days just to "put things back together." Everything got finished up at my house yesterday. We (me and the menagerie) were back to normal last night. They're still resting - and actually, so am I. Been trying to catch up on blog-reading and filling in the gaps of ten days. Another couple of hours should do it. Thanks to Chuck and Kevin for missing me. Good buddies, both. And to those who didn't even know there was a hurricane at my house -- oh well, I'm back.






posted by HCL at 9:53 PM