I just got my internet back. It’s been an exciting few days preparing for the hurricane that barely gave us a glancing blow. Our island had mandatory evacuation, but I didn’t want to move Jerry unless absolutely necessary. It looked like Earl was going to take a northerly path and wouldn’t be as bad as the weather channel was predicting. There’s a lot of preparation when a storm is approaching. Furniture has to be either brought in or tied down. Pots, garbage cans, swings have to be gathered up. Bread, water, canned goods, batteries have to be bought. Tubs have to be filled. Cars fueled. Cash retrieved. Medications filled. And most importantly, there needs to be a nice supply of Oreo cookies to last several days of no electricity. It was just about impossible for Jerry to keep up with the preparation and he slept most of the time.
Howard and his wife, came over to help. I had most of it all done, but Howard wanted to give Jerry a chance to contribute. I thought that was pretty cool. Ruth and I watched as Howard and Jerry turned over the rockers and lashed them to the banisters. Jerry really had no clue what was going on, but it was a valiant effort to build up his confidence. Jerry’s medicines were en-route via FedEx from the Duke Memory Clinic, but had not arrived. FedEx was not going to be able to deliver them because of the evacuation. So I had to find a pharmacist who would dispense us extra in case we were stranded.
SInce Earl was headed north, I decided against moving Jerry away from home. We had three other families who were staying too, so we decided to all sit it out together. I bought a big ole lasagna to feed the neighbors and we watched the surf from the house across the street. By 9:00 I was unconscious. My eyes just would not stay open. So, I gathered up my man and we went home to bed. I literally crawled in bed with my clothes on... so did Jerry, course, he does that quite often. (when I’m too tired to coerce him to put his jammies on.) You see, Jerry doesn’t understand why he needs to change into jammies. AND SOMETIMES I AM TOO TIRED TO EXPLAIN WHY AGAIN AND AGAIN.
So, we spent the night in dreamland and cared not anymore. WIth little wisps of breezy winds and Earl far off the shore. (Hey, I’m a poet.)