Well, we all survived the first day of our big roadtrip from Florida to Colorado.
Pipsqueak, Sugarplum and I survived the first day of driving and easily made it to our hotel by dinnertime without any stress (other than a little traffic). Pipsqueak did so awesomely well in the car for a busy two-year old and tomorrow’s shorter drive should be a breeze.
And hubby survived working from home with Doodle and Honeybun.
We will all rendezvous tomorrow night before I hop on a plane with my two and he takes over the last day’s driving.
And that’s where I thought my sadness today would come from. Because I’ve never been away from Doodle for longer than a sleepover and Grandma and Grandpa’s house. And none of my kids have ever been on an airplane without me (nor have I ever been on a plane without every single one of them since becoming a mommy over nine years ago.)
But the tears didn’t run down my face today because of the stress of roadtripping with kids or because of separating from some of my kids.
But because there is a major hurricane (probably) heading towards my home.
I, thankfully, missed most of the drama that filled my Facebook feed throughout the day as we drove. I missed the pictures of the massive lines to get gas, of the empty store shelves and of the ultimate question: Should we stay or should we go?
You could look at our situation as being the ultimate in lucky planning. That instead of my usual procrastinating (it’s possible my kids and I didn’t have a place to sleep tonight until yesterday afternoon…) our trip was actually foresight and we’re luckily getting out ahead of the crowd, before evacuations are called and things get really crazy.
But the feelings I have about this whole situation are an insane roller coaster right now.
Of course I’m worried about our home. A category 5 hurricane is no joke. But I have faith in the strength of our home and we are unlikely to have major flooding problems. We prepared as we did for Matthew last year (minus the hoarding food and water). We brought in everything outside and put up our hurricane shutters. Plus, our things are just things. There is nothing so important to risk our lives by staying in the storm’s path.
And while I’m glad to have my family safe, we’ve been waiting for this moment for 10 years. We originally moved to South Florida just over 10 years ago. It had been two years since the last hurricane had hit the area and I’ve been saying we’re due ever since. So there is a tiny part of me that is disappointed to be missing it. Weird, right?
But the worst of the feelings is for the people we love there. My family is getting out but we have so many wonderful friends that I’m worried sick about. Like our elderly next door neighbors. And our friends with kids of all ages. And those whose homes aren’t built as strong as our new house.
So much can happen. What will become of Irma and our home will only be told by time and I won’t stop worrying until we know exactly what it means to our lives.
