A Summer Shower named Irma…

Once upon a million years ago, my family was having a barbeque in the back yard. There was a patio cover over half the yard where the grill is and a picnic table my Daddy built I think before I was born; while the rest of the yard was open and there was a kiddie pool out there for my sister, brother and I.  I know at some points adults ended up in that pool too, and more than once, they were fully clothed!  This particular day, it looked as if some weather was looming, but we weren’t letting it affect our day.  When it did start raining, my mom was trying to come up with the best way to get everything inside.  My Daddy, manning the grill per usual, announced that we were not in fact scurrying inside.  Its just a Summer Shower he said.  So we stayed.  I think my siblings and I may have huddled under the picnic table with our pool towels.  The whole time, he kept saying, it’ll pass, its just a Summer Shower.  I don’t remember now how long we were out there, but it turned out to be a nasty thunderstorm, and not just a shower!  This has long been a running joke among my family.

The reason I was thinking about this, and told the story recently is because I was having the feeling that people were really over preparing for Hurricane Irma.  They were taking measures that they just did not when we were prepping for Matthew and that was only a year ago.  Like..did everyone else know something that I didn’t?  I went to the store for hair gel and was rudely informed by a STRANGER that I should be buying hurricane supplies.  I did have a bag packed, I did make sure to fill up my car, and made sure to secure a plan for Waylon.  I knew that the weekend was going to be one at work, so I just did not think that much prep needed to take place on my part.  Just show up-right?  I went to work on the 10th of September, and had no clue, like the rest of my squad, exactly what was about to happen to us, and this City that we are tasked with helping.  Through out the night, things were calm, eerily so.  The normal calls we get were pretty much stifled in the  wind and rain that were hitting us with increasing intensity.  Each time I went on break outside, it was getting worse and worse.  By about midnight, which is halfway through our shift, all hell broke loose.  Call after call after call of downed wires, flooding,  trees blocking streets and everything else you can imagine that comes with being in a Hurricane in Florida.  Our Sgts, Lt and Assistant Chief were constantly giving us updates on different information, and what to tell citizens that were in need of our assistance.  All Police Services were suspended until it was safe for us to get to them, unless the issue was life threatening.  Something felt wrong to me about asking for the location of an emergency, only to tell the person on the other end that they were basically on their own.  I totally understand why, but it was a feeling of helplessness for someone in a profession that is there with the sole purpose of helping.

I don’t remember when the news came out to us, and I know there was not some sort of official message sent.  But rumor was that we were being held over.  I assumed that I would work an additional 4 hours after my 12.  Only because 16 hours is the longest that the labor laws allow us to work.  Well I don’t know what kinda FEMA magic was cooked up, but we were told we were being held until one pm.  There were some of the members of our relieving squad already assembled here, and sleeping over in order to be ready to take over.  Some others decided to wait it out and not show up at all.  Last year my squad was brought in early, and this year kept late.  I guess you could say we don’t have the best luck with hurricanes.  So for 18 hours we answered calls, complained some, and bonded as well.  I was sitting with my Favorite Handy Fellow, and we also were able to take a break together to try and regroup mentally.  We all had to move our cars so they weren’t stuck in the under ground garage in case of flooding.  Imagine a convoy of prison transport vans shuttling us around.

 

Just when I thought I couldn’t take one more call.  When all my stored energy had been spent, and I was ready to snap-we were released.  We went outside to wait for the van to come get us and the wind was so strong that it was pushing us over, but the rain had stopped.  When we got to the parking garage and stopped to take a breath for a minute, I looked up and saw something that let me know that everything would be okay. Something that has always given me the strength to keep going when I feel like I can’t take another step.  A high flying, and unharmed American Flag.

I was super worried about the drive to Handy Fellows house, because I didn’t know how the Doozer Mobile would handle it.  It was a breeze, and even though there was some water to get thru, I did just fine.  The rest of the day and night were spent enjoying the hurricane in the power outage and driving around to look at some of the damages.  We played music on battery operated blue tooth speakers, we talked and laughed and passed the time.  I’m pretty sure with anyone else I would have been cranky pants, so I’m glad he could make the situation not suck.  At one point while in conversation, never losing his train of thought, he put on his turn signal to go around a tree in the road, and the whole time I was yelling  TREE! TREE! BIG HUGE TREE!!! After camping out in the dark with him, I find out that my apartment had power the whole time-face palm. Waylon was safe and sound, and totally unaffected by all the madness that his Mommy just experienced.

I know that the City will take some time to rebuild and recover, peoples homes have been damaged, cars flooded out on watery streets, businesses were totally devastated. But when it counts, when it matters the most, we all come together.  Just like that American Flag, nothing can break us. If any of y’all reading this right now need a hot shower, a meal of food or just some time in the AC..do not hesitate to reach out to me!