theinternationallymindedamerican

Last week had to be one of the most random weeks of my life.  Within the same week, not only was Washington, D.C., rocked by an earthquake, but it was also hit by a hurricane.  Even the usually composed newscasters on the evening news seemed a little stressed out, and the reporters on The Weather Channel could barely contain their glee at their moment of journalistic glory.

After evacuating from my office last Tuesday to regroup from the earthquake, it was almost immediately time to shift gears and prepare for Hurricane Irene.  The storm was set to hit D.C./Maryland/Virginia on Saturday, and naturally I wanted to be prepared.  Leon and I made a couple of trips to the grocery store after work to stock up on non-perishable items in case we had power outages during the storm.  On Friday, however, I wanted to run by the supermarket one last time.

I’ll be honest–the main reason why I wanted to hit the grocery store one last time was to stock up on treats.  The first couple of trips had been to purchase practical items, like cases of water, batteries for flashlights, canned goods, and so forth.  The more I thought about being cooped up in my apartment during the hurricane, though, the more I began to crave random things that I used to enjoy as a kid but don’t buy anymore in the name of “being a healthy adult.”

Case in point–while Friday afternoon shoppers were frantically clearing the aisles of toilet paper and bottled water, I was perusing the cereal aisle.  My cart soon held the treasures of Lucky Charms, Fruity Pebbles, and Frosted Pop-Tarts.  Now I was ready for Irene’s wrath.

                                  Empty shelves at the grocery store before Hurricane Irene

Saturday started out pretty calm, and I woke up wondering when the storm would begin to descend on the D.C. area.  I worked out at the gym, made a big pot of coffee, and watched the weather radar to keep track of the storm.  The sky looked pretty creepy–it was a dreary gray color, and you could see dark clouds slowly circulating, marching lifelessly along like they knew what was coming and had resigned themselves to it.

Starting Saturday afternoon the winds began to howl and the rain started to come down in sheets.  I stayed glued to the television and was saddened to hear that lives had already been lost in the hurricane, from falling limbs or car accidents.  No matter how long I had to be indoors, there was no way I was leaving my apartment.

I woke up Sunday to no power, as the electricity company had already warned would happen.  I couldn’t watch a sermon on television, since all of my electronics were dead, so I read a Bible devotional and sipped on some water, pretending like it was fresh coffee.  The day passed quietly, and I ended up taking a long nap, something I hadn’t done in ages.  It was still raining Sunday afternoon, but eventually the clouds gave way to actual sunlight.

Thankfully the power came back on Sunday evening, so I didn’t have to worry about heading into work on Monday without having a shower first.  Leon and I ended up taking a walk around my neighborhood to get some exercise and see how the streets looked.  Silver Spring had some damaged trees, but it looked overall like things were okay.  There were crowds of people outside, just hanging out and walking around, grateful that a new week was about to begin.  Everyone looked pretty weary, and the joke among many was, “I wonder which natural disaster we’ll have this week?”

Hopefully this week D.C. will have a break from crazy weather.  In the meantime, I also hope that my sugar coma from all of the kids’ cereals and Pop-Tarts wears off.