batten down the hatches

Nothing says Houston like hundreds of National Guard humvees moving across the city and highway message boards flashing: STORM BREWING - FILL GAS TANKS. Welcome to hurricane season.

There was a time when I would roll my eyes and think, "Calm down people!" No longer. Hope for the best - prepare for the possible.

My mom lost her house in Hurricane Allison. It was devastating.

Steve was waiting at the Astrodome when the first bus of children arrived from New Orleans during Katrina. The stories we heard on the news pale in comparison to the real horror experienced by families.  The University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work (where I teach), took in all of the  students from Tulane University so they could finish their graduate training. Again, their experiences (physical and political) were traumatic and never fully understood by the country. 

One month after Katrina hit, Rita came. Charlie was only 6 weeks old, so we evacuated with the rest of Houston. Because Charlie was so little, we left town early. It took us 6 1/2 hours to get to my dad's house in San Antonio. My sister and her family left 12 hours after us and it took them 16 hours on I-10. San Antonio is normally a 3-hour drive.

All of our grocery stores are empty. The lines at gas stations are a block long. Schools and businesses are closed today. People are filling their bathtubs with water as I type. The term "cone of uncertainty" is about as common as "Howdy y'all."

Edouard is expected to make landfall on the Texas coast sometime this afternoon. I think we'll be fine, but there will be people who have their lives changed today. Send up a good thought or a prayer.

Comments

[nyjlm]

stay safe- sending good thoughts to Texas.
We too were of the "relax people" persuasion until the 2004 season. Despite our 'safe' location in central Florida we were hit by Charlie, Frances, and Jeanne.
There's nothing quite like holding your breath for the six months of hurricane season, is there?

[Brené Brown]

it is a little like holding your breath, isn't it? thanks for the good thoughts and we'll send good energy to your neck of the woods too!

[jules D]

My thoughts and prayers will be with you all today. Thank you so much for your insightful blog. So much of it resonates with my life and the things that I am going through now as a new mom (and looking at my relationship with my own mother). I am striving to live an authentic life so that I can help my son do the same. Thank you, again.

[Monica]

Definitely sending hopeful, safe thoughts your way.

[young c-m]

Sending up a prayer...

[Irene]

I, too, live in a hurricane area. There is nothing like the time waiting for a hurricane. The boarding up of the house, getting the generator ready, making sure our "hurricane boxes" (bank records, insurance info, birth certificates) are ready to go, the "do-we-evacuate-or-ride-it-out?" conversations, the stocking up of ice, batteries, and dry goods (while simulataneously trying to eat everything in the freeze/fridge), the unknown, the waiting.... It is all very nerve racking. As I write I have already read that hurricane winds never developed. Ah, the grace of God that passess all understanding... I'm so relieved that, as we say here, you "dodge another one!"

[Brené Brown]

Just like Irene writes . . . we've dodged this one. Just lots of rain and a little wind. Thanks for all of the kind thoughts!