T Minus Two Days

Not getting much sleep lately. Wonder why.

You can say you aren't going to worry about something until you know the facts, but knowing the fact the Atlantic's worst hurricane ever is possibly coming right for you is pretty worrisome.

Shooting Irma won't help.

But I was still slightly relieved by the fact most models predicted on Wednesday that Irma may head East, giving us on the Gulf Coast a fighting chance.

And then yesterday's predictions came out, and a friend of mine called it to my attention on Facebook:

Yeah. Everything shifted West. 

The biggest picture on top is the most horrendous scenario, because that puts Irma going right up the center of Florida. It also comes from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which is considered to have the most accurate model for predicting hurricanes.

K. Am I scared? You're goddamn right I'm scared.

So it looks like it's coming right for us. BUT - another stroke of luck - what we thought might be cat 3 Irma has been downgraded to a cat 2 Irma by the time she gets to us. So 80 mile per hour winds then. Fan-fucking-tastic.

Anyway, I had sprint intervals on the agenda today, so since sleep wasn't happening and I had a little time before project "Help Husband Apply Hurricane Panels to Windows" started (and try to put in a full workday as well, because who knows what's going to happen next week), I decided to go complete my sprints around the lake near my house. You know, the same one with ducklings and otters and cute baby animals of all types. Speaking of ducklings, they're still there. A little older, of course, but not fully grown yet. I wonder how ducklings fare in 80+ mph wind?

But back to running... there was something particularly liberating about each one of those 30-second sprints I did this morning. Because when you are running your heart out, there's no chance to think about the what ifs. My mind was free from all of the planning and worrying and catastrophizing - it only had two priorities: A. breathe and B. get Nicole as far as possible as fast as possible. No room for any other thoughts.

Thoughts like... Will Disney World be ok?

And more importantly... Will my Mom's/Grams's house be ok?

They got the mandatory evacuation order yesterday afternoon. At first, they didn't get any other details except that evac was happening at 6 am on Friday, and panic ensued. They weren't exactly prepared to be ready that quickly, so my mom called me freaking out about everything that needed to be done. "Well... how long do you have to get out?" I asked her. It appears the city neglected to give them that information.

After doing a little research, I found out that, yes, evac began at 6 am this morning but at least they had until 8 am Sunday morning to get out (not that they should wait that long). However, what evac means is that if you don't have a special sticker on your car indicating you're a resident of the evac area, you can no longer get in. And a major part of their preparedness plan involved mine and Ben's help. So last night, we spent most of the evening doing what we could to help them get ready around their house.

And evacuated Grams's cat, Mittens, and 30 cans of soup to our house. Progress.

We also took one of their two minivans so that we could get back and forth to continue helping them tonight. Man, their two minivans have really come in handy this summer.

Anyway, I also learned we're expecting additional guests on Sunday. Our friends down the street live in a 100-year-old house. With a newborn baby, they didn't want to take any chances, so they are also coming with their dog to hang out when Irma arrives. Party on.

Between the painful process that is evacuating my family, prepping their house for what might be its ultimate end, and making last minute preparations for our own house to keep everyone safe, I'm not sure how much time I'll have in the next day.

5 pm update. Irma shifted West again. Awesome.

So I guess this is it. You probably won't be hearing from me again.




This weekend. I meant you won't be hearing from me again this weekend.