Messy Michael

It was only a month ago that Hurricane Florence barreled through our area, dumping buckets of rain, causing rampant flooding, and generally throwing folks into a tailspin for a couple of days. You may recall, though, that the trajectory changed at the last minute, which spared us the worst of her fury (and allowed us to sheepishly pack away our hastily gathered supplies, like the bottled water, extra flashlights, and piles of fresh batteries...all of which we had purchased in desperation, and under high amounts of stress, as everyone struggled at the same time to equip their homes with the essentials, ahead of the potential weather disaster).

Seeing and hearing about the destruction and devastation that Florence left near the coast, we were extremely grateful that we'd dodged this particular bullet. And then, long after we'd relaxed and gotten back to normal...along came Michael. (Seriously? AGAIN with the meteorological meltdown? Raise your hand if climate change sucks...) This time, the brunt of the damaging gales and downpours slammed into Florida, while we were merely expected to experience a bit of fallout after it had traveled over land and weakened for a while to a tropical rainstorm.

Eh, no biggie, right? I mean, we already had the emergency provisions! So this time there was no panicked raiding of stores, or sharing of catastrophic tales from Hurricanes Past...or much hoopla whatsoever, to be honest. We all shrugged, and went about our business, and figured it would be fine. Well, except that the schools, of course, took the opportunity to jump right onto the "cancel everything...just in case" bandwagon. So Riley's classes were suspended on Thursday as we waited for whatever was going to arrive.

And you know, it rained...sometimes in a positively drenching manner (such as when one needed to exit a building and reach one's car...hypothetically). There was some repeat overflowing of the usual creeks and standard puddling in the typical low-lying areas--all of which receded back to normal MUCH more rapidly this time than it did during the September mayhem. And it got a bit windy--for a short time, one might even call it downright blustery, as the trees rocked and loose branches rained down in our yard and thumped on our roof. Mildly disconcerting, sure...but nothing to trigger feelings of alarm.

Then...the power went out, with that decisive dying sound that strikes dread into the hearts of spoiled urban dwellers everywhere. I was in the kitchen when it happened, and I admit that I just stood there calmly waiting for it to come back on, because in the four years we've lived in Chapel Hill, we mostly get random, very brief flickers, rather than extended outages. Frankly, I can only remember maybe once that we've been in the dark for even a couple of hours, so this was an unusual occurrence.

But the lights did not, in fact, spring back to life in obedience to my unspoken command--even though the storm by this point seemed to have passed. Thus we did get to utilize our handy-dandy flashlights, as the evening progressed and we lost any natural illumination from outside. However, in the Silver Lining department: the water delivery was unaffected, which meant we could flush toilets and wash our hands. (Although with only cold agua, showering was on a strictly "if you dare" basis. The young, hearty Riley was the lone taker of THAT particular plunge--truly a braver soul than I. Besides, I stockpiled those biodegradable baby wipes for just such a...hygiene emergency!)

Aaannnd, no wi-fi, of course, so we each settled down with a book. In fact, I had enough time to read an entire novel, which was undeniably enjoyable...but once finished, what's next? The answer, in a Little House on the Prairie way, is "go to bed", because there's literally nothing else to do. Fortunately, unlike last month, when temperatures remained in the 80s and the humidity was utterly oppressive in Florence's wake, Michael left us with Fall-like conditions...and therefore not missing the AC that we couldn't use to stay comfortable anyway!

The next morning when we woke up, I'm sure everyone was hoping that the electricity fairies (um...we also refer to them as Duke Energy around here) had magically restored the power zipping through our lines. But one glance at the blank faces of the alarm clocks squashed that thought. At least it was bright and sunny, making it easy to get around the house during the day. But obviously school was closed again for Riley, due to the disruption...and we were running out of ways to entertain ourselves. (Yeah, we're clearly soooo not cut out for....let's call it "frontier life". Memo to Me: find some low-tech hobbies before next Summer...) Slightly more unsettling was the jarring realization that we found ourselves without cell service, either. Meaning that for the time being, we were well and truly cut off from any avenues of communication...short of a smoke signal, perhaps.

Now, Husband was able to make the short trek to his company's office in Durham, and thus have a productive day using their Internet and phones. Because I have an exceptionally low tolerance for boredom--and equally strong addiction to coffee--I ventured out into the nearest town, only about two miles away, to check on the status of the surrounding world. And I found myself flabbergasted (and indignant) that the shops there were fully operational--lights glowing, machines whirring, scanners buzzing, cash registers dinging (espresso makers humming...mmmm....). As a matter of fact, driving through both Carrboro and Chapel Hill revealed that the power seemed to be on...everywhere except our little corner of creation.

Naturally, this wasn't the whole story: once I was back within the range of free cyber-surfing, the Worldwide Web informed me that hundreds of thousands of customers throughout Florida and the Carolinas were in the same predicament. It just seemed so weird--both the specific locations of outages, and the fact that Michael seemed like so much LESS of a threat than that b...imbo...Florence.

Not to mention that--despite the deceptively less-than-powerful gusts, there were so many more electrical wires downed and trees toppled this time, leading to copious amounts of detouring on the roadways, and massive cleanup efforts as crews worked to dismember and remove the debris. However, while the blackout continued at Casa WestEnders, the salon where I'd booked a haircut appointment was open and receiving clients as usual. (Yay for getting your tresses shampooed....NOT under an icy cold stream!) Then Riley asked if we could head out to the library so he could use his computer to check a few things off his homework To Do list.

So we hit up a local favorite establishment for lunch (because why not? It's not like we could cook anything at home), then swung by Ye Olde House of Books. That is, us...and about a million other electricity-deprived citizens with the same idea. After navigating a parking lot so overrun that it resembled the chaos of a shopping mall at Christmas time, we wandered the first floor, in search of an unoccupied table--preferably next to a couple of power outlets to charge our devices. (Incidentally, while able to access news feeds, I read that the library had been hosting 300 visitors PER HOUR that day, which explains the uncharacteristic pandemonium...)

Later, as we were wrapping up our pursuits and considering (without much enthusiasm) making our way back to the house, Husband texted that he'd returned before us....and was happy to report that the lights, etc. were back up and functioning. Phew! It ended up being about 24 hours--and trust me when I say, that was more than enough. Once we were back in touch with both informational and social networks, I found out that we were actually super-lucky, because some of our friends who live just a short distance further away from town continued without power for another couple of days...which just boggles my mind.

So I think it goes without saying that we're feeling extra thankful today for things we normally take for granted, like warm water on demand, and refrigerated food, and electric bulbs to banish the darkness, and electronic means of amusing ourselves (still gotta work on that....) Besides which, our house is still standing, we're all safe and sound, the weather has taken a turn for the delightful...and the freaking Hurricane Season officially ends in a couple of weeks. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go make myself a cup of hot tea...in the microwave...just because I can!