I'm Anti-ing the Next Hurricane

Let me preface this with I know little to nothing about hurricanes. From what I've understood, they are tornadoes on water. Tornadoes, now that I know about. I lived in the middle of Tornado Alley in Oklahoma for eight years so those I understand. They don't bother me much. I know what to do, how to prepare, what to tie down, etc. But hurricanes are a different story.

Saturday rolled around and people from New Orleans were evacuating. Since New Orleans is below sea level, people were really concerned about flooding. Meanwhile, in my neck of the woods, my friends were buying stuff and "stocking up." I wasn't sure why they were going to all that trouble if it was only going to affect New Orleans. Once again my naivete knows no bounds.

Sunday comes. I go to church and help out with powerpoint. It's a program that flashes on the wall so people can see the words of a song on a screen instead of bending over hymnals. I love doing it because its service and I think we are all called to serve. But that's another story for a different day. There were 15 people at church. Ok, so maybe I'm being dramatic, but really it was slim pickins'.

Then I head to Sunday School. Its notable that sunday school was chock full of people; it was great. We talked about the Trinity. God being three in one. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It was a spinoff of the service. We finish and then I head home. Usually people go to lunch, but I duck out this time. I'm not really feeling too well at this point. I'm not in a lot of pain, but I can feel it coming. Its on the edges of my mind, tickling my nerve endings. I chock it up to the stress of the past few days. Nicole, my fabulous roomie, comes home and says she's going to go stay with her mother because she's all by herself. In the meantime, the Ring is cancelled. Which means I've got the night off. I serve in the same way sunday nights as I do in the morning. But I get to be a little more creative at the Ring. I'm allowed to pick the backgrounds and videos. I love it! Once again, it goes back to that whole service thing. Anyways, back to my story...

It's around 6pm sunday night. Nicole had left a while back because of the traffic to go stay with her mom. I'd been told to expect power failure and don't drive anywhere. Ok, no problem. I'll be here at home in case something happens. By this time, my head is killing me. I can barely stand up it hurts so bad. You know those headaches you get where your eyes throb with the ebb and flow of the waves of pain in your head? Yep, that was me. So here was my dilemma. Do I take something or just try and lie still and hope and pray it will go away? (On a sidenote, I am the cheapest drunk you will ever meet. No, I've never been drunk, but if I've got a headache, just looking at a tylenol will make me feel better. It's pathetic.)

Let's recap. Katrina is blowing in. I'm alone. My head is knocking me off my feet. If I take something, I will not be able to drive anywhere if something happens. If I don't take something, I just might pass out from the pain. And passing out is not fun. The lack of oxygen kills so many brain cells, and I've passed out too much in my lifetime already. I've got a theory that my IQ has been affected because of it.

I take two tylenol around 6:30pm. Fall asleep in the fetal position and wake up at midnight. Toss and turn and moan and groan for a while. Fall back asleep in the fetal position. Wake up, move to the bathroom and fall asleep on the floor in the fetal position. I'd moved to the bathroom because I thought I was going to blow chunks. Which probably wouldn't have happened because I hadn't had anything to eat since lunch sunday afternoon. But give me a break, I was kind of out of it. Anyways, around 7am, wake up because the power flicks off and the security alarm goes off. So I turn that off, kind of in a daze because the alarm doesn't help my head at all. And then once again collapse into my bed barely noticing that it sounds like a tornado is right outside my window. 10am comes and I'm conscious enough to notice that the power has really gone out this time and I need more medicine, so I wobble down the stairs and find more tylenol and a couch. Katie, in the meantime, had called and sent me a text message seeing if I needed anything. I tell her no, I'd thought about coming over, but I'm too overmedicated to drive at this point. Ann and Nathan drop by out of nowhere to check on me. Which was so nice by the way. Ann tells me later on that I looked like I was dead. I believe it. I seriously felt like shinolah. So Katie comes to pick me up and I go to Katie and Anns where they feed me some soup and I once again pass out. A few hours later, I ask Katie to bring me home so I can see if everything is alright. It is, the power is back on, so I sleep in my own bed monday night. But this time, not in the fetal position...

So that was my first time with a hurricane. May I never go through another one. At least not alone anyways. I'm off to sleep again, my head is starting to throb again....