Written by Karen D. Swim
The past week has been a tense weather week for coastal regions in the U.S. As hurricane watches turned into warnings, many had to evacuate their homes. An evacuation forces you into quick thinking and even quicker action. You must decide what is essential and what gets left behind. As you close the doors on your home, there is no guarantee that any remnant will remain when the hurricane has passed. Yet there is no time for sentimental musing just a prayer that your life will remain intact.
Life hurricanes are not unlike those that are weather related. You do your best to prepare “just in case” even when the weather is good. You develop an emergency plan and tuck it away as you go on with life. A convergence of conditions causes hurricanes but like those that are weather related, the presence of those conditions alone do not guarantee a hurricane. A suspicious blur on an x-ray, a lump, a cough, an economic downturn – all conditions that could drop a little rain or when combined with just the right conditions turn into a named storm, a hurricane.
Sometimes you can see Hurricane Life on the horizon. You can watch it on a radar but you are powerless to direct its path. You may get a short warning that allows you to choose to evacuate or ride it out. Sometimes evacuation is mandatory. You must grab the essentials for there is not room or time to carry everything in your life. As you close the door, you know that you may never return to life just as it was. If your house survives the storm, there may be damage or items lost. You may lose your house entirely and have to rebuild or move on to another location.
I have never been in a hurricane or tropical storm but have seen the eye of Hurricane Life many times. I watched it level my proverbial house and I could only stand in the place that had once held the familiar unable to identify the debris that lay around me. Other times, Hurricane Life has ripped off the roof and blown out the windows but the structure though damaged remained standing. Each time I have grabbed only what was necessary for immediate survival, thankful for life and the really important things that were safely tucked away in my heart, mind and spirit. It was never easy but always I survived.
My heart goes out to those who have had to face down Gustav, Ike or Life. I know it is not easy and I wrap my arms around you today and offer you support and comfort. I also give thanks that you survived and that is the most important thing.
If you had to evacuate, what would you take? Have you ever been in an hurricane the weather or life kind? Share your stories, comments or whatever is on your mind. You are always welcome to join the conversation.
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Friar says
@Kelly
Well, whatever I DID say, it’s all perfectly true, isn’t’ it?
😉
Kelly says
… sounded like…
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Kelly says
Friar,
Are you smirking? That last sentence sounded last patented Friar sarcasm. If anybody else said it I’d take it at face value, but from you…. ?
Kellys last blog post..Remember When Transparency Meant, Well…
Friar says
Hey, we got the remnants of Ike in Ontario this past weekend…!
By the time it got here, it fizzled out. But there still was quite a bit of wind, and rain. And you could still feel the tropical mugginess in the air.
You could definitely feel that it was a hurricane remnant, and not just a routine rainy day.
Fascinating, how the same weather system in the Gulf affected us all the way up here.
It just shows how we are all connected, on this planet, and closer than we think.
😉
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Kelly says
Karen,
I’ve been in hurricanes of both sorts. Both are excellent teachers of paring down to minimums, and of not being as “thing-ist,” as I call it. In modern life we are all so attached to things. I like my stuff, but hurricanes of both sorts have taught me not to be attached to my stuff. Save that for love.
What to take: Please, everybody, know where your important paperwork is. Keep originals SOMEPLACE ELSE. In a hurricane/ fire/ tornado/ other emergency, you will need copies. Just put a bag together now with birth, marriage certs, a list of accounts, insurance info, and crucial phone numbers. That kind of stuff.
What you NEED, as long as your loved ones are with you, is to prove who you are and keep in touch with critical people and companies. Your identity can fit in a briefcase. Put it in your front hall closet now, and I hope you’ll never need to grab it.
If I had more time (and thankfully I’ve always had at least a bit more time), I’d go cliche and take my photographs. Everything else I can replace.
Great post!
Regards,
Kelly
andrew says
My thoughts and prayers are with those who are enduring or have endured the hurricane. (Excuse my ignorance, I haven’t been following the progress of the hurricane, so I have no idea about the current status)
Certainly, ‘hurricanes,’ weather related of a figure of speech, cause us to think seriously and quickly about what is most important to us.
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Karen Swim says
Hi Diana, welcome! Your Animal Guide is a wonderful service. One thing that many learned from Hurricane Katrina is the importance of having emergency plans to care for our furry loved ones. Thank you so much for commenting and sharing the resource.
Brad, wow! Living in So Cal my whole life I was always prepared for a quake but a typhoon would have left me frazzled! I am the Queen of preparedness though and a little anal about being prepared at home or on the road. I think the Worst Case Scenario book freaked me out a long time ago! LOL!
E, everyone keeps saying the good thing about MI is the lack of hurricanes and tornadoes but we have had tornadoes! There was one last week and as you mentioned those winds are wicked. I totally agree, life can whip it up and totally spin you around like Dorothy and Toto.
Evelyn, it was really sad and my heart goes out to those families. Losing a home is tough but losing a loved one is incomparable.
I love that kids and laptop! Yes, truly the essentials! 🙂
Evelyn Lim says
I read about the hurricane in the newspaper. It is sad that many lives are lost and that many have to lose their homes because of it.
I’d grab my kids first of all, should I ever be in one. If I have the chance to take anything physical, it will be my laptop!
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Ellen Wilson says
Karen,
I haven’t had to face a hurricane because I’ve never lived anywhere that gets hurricanes. The storms in Michigan can be nasty though, and we had a tree fall down and narrowly miss the house.
I agree with Diana, that the life hurricanes are the worst ones. I’ve faced a few of those.
Sometimes it doesn’t matter how we prepare, life will just blind side you with something.
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Brad Shorr says
We were in a typhoon years ago in San Diego and it scared the bejeezus out of us. The wind was blowing so hard palm trees were bent in half and looked like they were about to fly out of the ground. In the frame of mind I was in, I would have needed a pre-prepared list to know what to take. Food and water would be at the top of the list, for sure, and I hate to say it, some sort of physical protection. Mementos, important documents, small valuables? Just the usual stuff, I guess, would be next on the list.
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Diana L Guerrero says
Lovely piece and a fresh perspective on the personal disasters we all face.
I’ve faced natural disasters–and personal ones. The worse personal one took ages to recover from. Today I’d hightail it out of there.
For those real disasters I have an Animal Disaster Guide to help people with pets prepare and am giving it away at the moment.
I’ve included some high tech prep hints on my blog and in my kit I have all my computer flash drives and other important items.