I’m still waiting for word from Florida.
Or rather, I’m waiting for my daughter, Georgia, and her three children to have power back in their home in the wake of Hurricane Irma so they can contact me.
It took five looooooooooooong days for the roads around the Ocala National Forest where they live to be cleared of fallen trees so they could drive to the nearest store some 20 plus miles away.
Once there GA was able to get in a line of other anxious locals to use the store’s computer and send a one line email reading, “We are safe.”
No sweeter words have ever been received on my computer.
So much so, that one single brief message has kept me fairly content for the days of silence that have followed.
But that contentment is wearing thin now, knowing they are sweltering in high temperatures and 100 percent humidity, that there’s standing rainwater hatching out mosquitoes in the millions and other major discomforts piling up - like running out of stockpiled water, knowing everything in their freezer is rotting, wondering if there will be any food left before the power is back on, and etc.
Living as I am right now in complete and utter comfort makes me feel even worse for them. I’m sad, too, for all those in Florida and the brutally damaged offshore island communities where people are living with those same conditions and insecurities right now, many of them in far worse conditions than my family.
GA’s house is still standing and her property didn’t sustain any major damage, or so my granddaughter said in a hurried computer call when she got to her Dad’s house last Friday. Knowing that is a relief, but ...
What are they eating?
Are they eating?
Their well is power driven and while they had stockpiled water for a week or so, have they run out of water in this heat? Where will they get any, given that all their neighbors are in the same situation.
These are the thoughts running constantly in the background of my mind right now even as I chat with friends and go about my daily activities. I find I am forgetful and even irritable. And I’m tired all the time. Exhausted even.
This is too hard.
I hate this.
We had massive television coverage here in England when the storm was on her rampage through the islands and into Florida. Every news broadcast was filled to the brim with news of dangerous winds and storm surges and changes in direction of the terrible hurricane.
But after? When more than half the state had no power and no way to communicate?
Not a peep.
Perhaps newscasters might give a thought to that since global warming has guaranteed we’ll see more of these kinds of events in the future?
(Don’t believe in global warming? You have much in common with an ostrich.)
I have left email and phone messages with power companies, emergency services and Georgia’s ex-husband, but have had no word back on their situation from anyone. I know my grandchildren were at their father’s house this past weekend, but are they staying with him? If so, for how long? Is my daughter OK? She was sick with bronchitis when the hurricane hit … is she still sick?
WHAT IS GOING ON IN FLORIDA???
This not knowing is the worst from my end while the conditions they are actually living under are the worst ever for them.
I know they have learned a lot from this experience,
as have I.
I’ve learned I need a lot more contact phone numbers on hand.
I’ve learned power it may take weeks for power to be back on following hurricanes having the highest numbers, especially in those backwater places where the po’ folk like my daughter live.
And I’ve learned I never, ever, want them (or me) to go through something like this ever again. The sooner they get out of there and over here, the better.
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