Anticipation

“The waiting is the hardest part.”  Tom Petty

There’s another monster coming.

Right now, we’re in the center of the target for this one.  Shrill voices with frightening graphics are cautioning us not to panic.  Yet.  There is still a large margin of uncertainty for the storm.  It *could* hit anywhere on the Texas coast.  Theoretically.  

Realistically, the center of the storm is most likely to make landfall somewhere between Corpus Christie and Galveston.  Um.  Oh, that’s sort of, well.  HERE!  

Right now Ike has just finished with Cuba, spending much of its energy and weakening to a Category 1 storm.  Between there and HERE though, is a lot of warm Gulf water and just the right kind of air and swirling to feed the monster, and so it’s very likely to strengthen before it gets HERE, with an uncomfortably high chance that it could land as a Category 4 storm.  Right now, the spread of hurricane force winds for this storm is about 75 miles, give or take.  That’s 75 miles of winds in excess of 75 miles per hour.  And that’s if it stays a Category 1.  If it lands at Category 4, well, that’s 75 or more miles with winds in excess of 131 miles per hour, with a gradually diminishing high wind field that extends well beyond that.  

So, you know, if this one lands within a hundred miles of HERE, it’s going to be pretty darn windy.  Oh yes.  

But no one wants to jump out there and say what comes next.  Evacuation.  

Not yet.  

Evacuation is expensive and messy.  The Louisiana evacuation for Hurricane Gustav went well by most accounts.  But Texas has not forgotten the horrifying evacuation for Hurricane Rita in 2005.  An evacuation that killed more people than the storm they were fleeing. 

So we’re waiting.  Waiting for someone to say, welp, don’t panic, but it’s time to get the heck out of Dodge.  

A couple of school districts have suspended classes for the rest of the week (not ours).  Buses are amassing at key staging areas.  Neighbors are buying groceries and plywood.  And batteries and bottles of water.  

We have that.  

We have a folder of important documents to take with us that will help us get back to our house afterward if there is massive destruction.  That will help us do whatever it is that has to be done to put things back together when they’re ripped apart by wind and rain and waves.  We have a list of the other “stuff” that will go with us in the car if we leave.  

The incredibly cool and lovable biker chick across the street is staying.  So is her hammer-wielding partner (who could not look more like Mr. Clean if he tried, except maybe for the white t-shirt).  She’s promised to keep an eye on things and shoot any looters.  Ok, she didn’t promise that this time.  That was when we left for Rita.  

So tonight we wait.  On the off-chance that those wacky steering currents will send this storm across the less densely populated parts of South Texas.  We can hope.  

But in reality.  My gut tells me the storm is coming HERE.  Maybe not right to this spot.  But close enough.  I’m not worried, or panicked, I’ll be ready tomorrow to wake up and do what we have to do to secure the house as best we can, pack what is crucial and irreplaceable, what we need to care for ourselves.  Ready to reassure the kids about what is happening, what isn’t happening, and that the adults are doing our best to keep us all as safe as we can.  

I am a little (ha) scared though.  I have these moments where I sort of choke a bit, wondering if I can cram one more thing in the car.  If I’ll see this table again.  If that tree will crush my bedroom.  If the roof will be ripped off.  And then what?  This worry happens during the waiting.  During the times where there isn’t much to do except wait for the next step.  This worry and the little choke is set aside during the doing what has to be done.  This worry erupts in the quiet moments in between.  

The hardest part.   

Comments

[Astraea]

You are all in my thoughts. I am sending you lots of love, peace, and comfort from afar. Remember what Julian says.

But I'd be scared too. Hell, I'm scared for you.

However (comma) a little bit of fear can be a good thing--it keeps you alert, it keeps you thinking forward, and it reminds you that you are alive to feel it. And those are good things in time of (potential) crisis.

If you need anything, now or in the future, or want to talk...I'm here, day or night. **hugs**

I'm just pissed it's coming to land near your birthday. WTF. Seriously.