Hello, Hurricane Earl - Our First Hurricane

If you look at the picture above, you can see the projected path of Hurricane Earl. From my understanding, it will be parallel to our island tomorrow afternoon. We've moved from a Hurricane Condition 5 (which basically means all clear) to a 4. As far as I know (would be nice if they handed out a list of what we're supposed to do at each level, ha), this means we have to bring everything in that could turn into a missle. So, we put away all the outdoor toys and things this afternoon.

I believe that a Condition 3 will mean evacuations of at least visitors, but am not sure at what point we would have to leave. I do know the boys and I will have to be some of the first residents out because of their age, but Oliver would have to stay, possibly through the entire thing.  I think I'm going to redo our 72-hour kits into evacuation kits. It's not quite the same kinds of things that we would need if we had to leave home.

So far, the only thing we've seen of Earl is some crazy wind. We went to a birthday party this evening at the park and all the plates, some full of food, were blowing the second people stopped holding them down. To get the candles to light, they had to make a wind break of a table cloth and about a dozen kids. I'm curious what tomorrow will bring, although I don't expect it to be too ridiculous. Maybe we'll go watch the waves or something if the rain isn't too bad.

If you're wondering, I don't freak out about hurricanes all that much. I do hope we don't live through one that decimates our house and all we own, but because I grew up in New England about an hour from the coast, I've lived through a couple growing up. They don't hit there too often, but we did lose our power after Hurricane Gloria in the '80s. It wasn't restored for a week, and we used kerosene lanterns in the evenings. We had a lot of loose limbs out back, and I actually got hit in the head with one. Luckily, it wasn't large and I was fine.

The biggest thing I remember from those years, actually, is how much they freaked out my mother. Every time one was projected to come north, she would scurry around collecting candles and emergency supplies to stow in the cellar. I don't recall ever actually retreating there, but maybe we did during Gloria (I was only about seven or eight when it happened). As for my siblings and I, a hurricane was cause for great excitement, and I am still feelign some of that tonight. I do understand how terrible they can be now, but I still feel such an adrenaline rush from it all.

I do hope we don't have to live through an evacuation and the ordeal that would be since I have to take the boys alone, but I am feeling more intrigued than anything about the danger we are in living here. While I don't want to lose our things and have to start over, stuff is stuff. I have a plan for the things we care the most about, like pictures and home video, plus the things like our passports and birth certificates that are kind of necessary for living life. We'd have a good cry over everything else, but it would be okay in the end.

So, bring it Earl! We are going to be fine.