Hurricane Irma
You made the Sun
You made the Moon
You made the stars above
You made each flower, plant and tree,
Creating them with love
Thank you, God,
For putting so much
Beauty everywhere.
And help me always treat
Your World with gentleness and care.
I found this little book on the dresser in the spare bedroom at my in-laws house. It was the room Kyle, Roman and I shared during our time there through Hurricane Irma. It was a book that was titled Daily Prayers for Boys and I flipped through it the night before the storm was supposed to hit. I was scared, nervous, mad, worried, every emotion was gripping me. I flipped through so I could find the words to pray with Roman + Kyle before we laid Roman down to sleep. And I found the one above. Yes, I wanted to ask God for safety and for peace, but this prayer seemed fitting also. We didn't know what the storm was going to bring. We didn't know if it was going to be as bad as they said and bring mass destruction to our homes, streets and schools. So, I thanked God for the beauty on the Earth, because we didn't know what it would look like when we woke up on Monday morning. I thanked God for my family and I prayed that God would help me appreciate the beautiful things in my life just a little bit more.
I wasn't scared about the storm at all. UNTIL lunch on September 6th, 2017. Everyone came in freaking out. FREAKING OUT. I didn't think I had anything to worry about and that could possibly be because I don't really watch the news. Well, I started that night. And I tracked that storm every second because now I was worried. My husband on the other hand... cool as a cucumber. Cool as a freaking cucumber. Kyle did not have a worry in the world about any of it. And that made me very uncomfortable. I wasn't happy. It was hard. I wanted to leave, I wanted to stay, I wanted to fly or drive or go on vacation. Kyle would have none of it because he had been through it all before. That didn't sit well with me, but I had to trust him. I did trust him. I trusted him after some crying and fighting...that's marriage, right? So, we're staying.
The whole experience was...interesting. It was something new to me so I was nervous and I was scared. Also, I HAVE A BABY! Having a baby changes it all. I wanted it all to be over. We played cards and we ate junk food and we watched the news, we didn't watch anything, but the news. We went in the closet when the storm hit and Roman didn't know what was happening. He played and laughed and smiled. He got to stay up late, took his bath and then went to sleep for the night. We played some more cards and then went to bed too. The next morning was beautiful. The weather was perfect and we went outside to look at the damage. There was not much damage, some trees down, but nothing major. We were lucky. We were blessed.
Two weeks later my husband and I went back to work. We work at different elementary schools in the district with two very different populations. We knew that his students probably made it through the storm just fine with little damage, but my students were a different story. When I went back to school we had to talk about what was coming and what our students might need. Monday (today) was going to be hard, but we were a team and we would get these kids through. We would support the families that needed it and be a safe place for the kids that maybe didn't have a home anymore. It is true that in horrible situations like Hurricane Irma people come together. Everyone watches out for everyone because that's what you do. You help each other in times of need. We don't know all the stories and we never will, but we just need to be present. We need to be the spark, the light in that little person's life.
A friend asked me how Roman did through the storm on our first day back. I instantly started crying because again I just felt overwhelmingly blessed.
xo, Tess
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