If I Ever Actually Have Any Livestock...

... I'm going to name at least two of them Rita and Irene, if only in an effort to remind me of the times when I experienced two very different feelings during a hurricane.

Rita came during Bailey's fourth birthday.  We spent 8 hours trying to evacuate, got 50 miles and decided to hole up with our neighbors' friends just north of Houston.

Irene is coming during another big weekend for our family.  Although it isn't a category five and headed straight for our house like Rita was, people in the area that haven't lived through a hurricane are freaking out.  I'm not that worried.  As long as I don't haven't to be stuck in a 200-mile long parking lot, I'm good.  Standing water is a little troublesome, more so if it is in your basement, but is usually gone in a couple of days.  Winds aren't going to be that bad, tropical storms rarely cause a lot of damage, even in areas like we live in, where most of the homes are sided with vinyl siding.  We are a few hundred miles inland, which is going to be our best defense.

We get storms during the winter with winds similar to those that we will be experiencing.  I'm sure that people will lose power and that there will be flooding, but the panic felt when I was directly in the path of a category 5 storm, is somehow missing this time around.  I'm not carefully preparing my kids for the devastation that might hit our home, nor are my husband and I making plans for what we will do if our home is uninhabitable.  Six years ago, after watching many people relocated to Houston after Katrina, we were prepared to potentially move somewhere else and start over again.

I'm sad that we are going to miss a day of sightseeing with the grandparents, but a little unexpected time just hanging out with the family is always welcome.

Written August 29, 2011