Momma Mondays - Hurricane Fever

Pace men before hurricane

Much has been said about Hurricane Irene, who had actually transformed herself into Tropical Storm Jose by the time she reached us here in Queens. The news, as well as family and friends from landlocked states, did their best to instill panic. The news harkened back to hurricanes from the past while friends commented on Facebook and Twitter about whether or not we were ready. I even had to ask my mother-in-law to please step away from the television and assure her twice that we were absolutely not in an evacuation zone. We knew not to worry since that solves nothing, but we did prepare. In the event of 100 mph winds, we tied down our patio furniture and moved our car into a garage. We didn't have a sitter, so I carried patio chairs with Knox on my back while Jerrod carried most of the heavier items. Knox and I even stood watch over our furniture out on the street while Jerrod figured out where we'd store it, which actually turned out to be a good thing because a woman with bags full of cans to recycle moseyed over as if it were a yard sale and I had to tell her otherwise. (Looting pre-disaster?) In the event of power loss, we bought gallons of water and gave some to folks in our building, we had two flashlights at the ready, stocked up on non-perishable food and extra diapers, and made sure that our phones were charged. Click READ MORE in blue to see videos of a last minute trip to the grocery store and park and read the rest of this post:

What actually happened is that, while many areas of the east coast were hit with flooding and even the apartments on the other side of our building experienced some leaking, the Pace family slept through the whole thing. Irene who? Sunday morning, we went out of the building during the eye of the hurricane to survey the damage and stretch our legs a bit. The sun was shining and we did a little live action news coverage of our own. Although a few limbs were down, everything looked pretty good... although I will say that the streets were eerily quiet and I felt like we were living out the movie I Am Legend.

As the eye passed over, we were hit with a bit more wind and entertained ourselves by playing with the baby and reading. My sister, Bobbie Jo, came over to weather the storm with us and it was nice to all be together. We ate delicious crock pot beef stew (if I do say so myself) and waited as Irene/Jose fizzled out. Our imaginations really took hold as we played inside!

Finally, the cabin fever got the best of us and we stepped out back onto our patio to play a while. I must say, we didn't stay out long though. I told my husband I didn't want to be in The Daily News the next day: "Idiot Family Dies from Falling Branches Due To Horseplay during Irene." (Although their headlines are usually a bit more succinct and sarcastic.) And yet still, I made myself look like an idiot. What can I say? I'll do anything to make my baby laugh.

I hate seeing the coverage of folks who experienced loss or flooding. (Cleaning up after the Flood of '97 in my hometown was awful.) But I will say that we are healthy and happy to have walked away from both an earthquake and a hurricane this week unscathed. Thank you, God.  And what a week!

Knox with Daddy & Momma