After Hurricane Ike

Sorry I’ve been an absent blogger, but today is our first day with power after Hurricane Ike rolled through the Galveston and Houston areas a week ago. The power came on last night to much hooting and hollering in the neighborhood. There are still many without power and even water, so our prayers are with them.

My husband and I rode out the storm in our house, along with a friend who lived in a mandatory evacuation area. Our area had a voluntary evacuation, but we chose to stay when the storm forecast said Ike wouldn’t get over a category 2. (Our house is supposed to be able to withstand a 3.) You come to really appreciate a strongly built house when something like Ike rolls over you. As we watched the storm rage outside, with trees bowing in the screaming winds, we didn’t even hear the house creak, which made us feel secure.

We were blessed with very little damage, just two shingles off the roof. And we had water the whole time and were able to cook with the gas stove and matches.

Something like a hurricane really brings people together, and we got to know our neighbors — and they all showed their generosity and good will — throughout the past week. It’s wonderful to see people come together so much and help each other. We should all embrace that all the time. I think our street is the better for it (the good will, I mean).

I didn’t get much writing done during the week, trying to preserve battery life on my laptop, but after the excitement of the storm and busy time of clean up, I missed it. Now that we have power back, I’m looking forward to jumping back into my revision.

But before I opened my document, I checked email — a necessity — and found a lovely email from the organizer of our local SCBWI critique group. She gave us a storm update, but then, at the bottom of her email was information about an SCBWI editor’s day conference in February. It feels so nice to be getting back to normal.

Write On!