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| Aloha from Hawai'i... |
Aloha from Hawai'i!
Shockingly it was only about a month and a half ago and I still haven't had a chance to share it with you all. My Hawaiian adventure was actually cut a bit short due to circumstances provided by Mother Nature. I can talk about it now because I survived... but while I was in it, I must admit... I was a bit scared.
It was my third day in Hawai'i. Since my arrival we had been receiving ample warnings about the hurricane and meteorologists were predicting that it was going to hit the next day. I remember I was sitting in the living room because I had just waken up. I was the only one at the house because my cousin had gone to take the kids and Baby Nicole to school. His wife was already at work. My cousin Anthony is in the Navy and has been living in Hawai'i for a few years now. He invited me to come and visit and because I had never been to Hawai'i, I figured why not? I've always envisioned Hawai'i through the stereotypical tourist eyes. I imagined beautiful tanned women with long and dark hair in coconut bras and grass skirts. They would greet me as I got off of the plane by saying "aloha" while doing a hula dance. I would be given a lei to put around my neck and someone would hand me a coconut filled with rum with a mini umbrella on the side. No one could tell me that I wouldn't be laying out in a hammock on the beach while falling asleep to a beautiful sunset. Wait... didn't you see that post card too? I'm sure it isn't just me. Sadly my post card dreams were miles away...
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| Outside of the house that day... |
I heard someone knocking at the door. I started thinking, "Anthony has a key... why would he be knocking?" I went to the door and shouted out, "who is it." When I opened the door, there was a man standing there with a stack of papers in his hands. "Mam here is information on how to prepare for the storm." He was going from house to house handing out Hurricane Survival Packets. I asked him, "do you think the storm is really coming"... Anthony kept saying, "It ain't gone hit... ain't nothin' gone happen"... and I believed him. If that was the case, then why would this man be handing out survival packets explaining how to create a survival kit and providing listings of all of the hurricane shelter centers in the area? He responded, "it may not hit us hard but it is coming."
When Anthony came home, I told him about the man stopping by and gave him the packet that he dropped off. Anthony stuck with his intuition, "Maaaannn ain't nothin' gone happen Tiff... this happen here all the time... they make it seem so bad... it ain't gone be a hurricane by the time it get here, it's just gone be a tropical storm." The weather had been beautiful all week. Even that day, it was cloudy but it didn't look "hurricany" outside. Besides, I had never experienced a hurricane before so I wasn't sure what to look for. Growing up in Illinois we had plenty of tornadoes and thunderstorms so I figured if I could handle Mother Nature in that sense, then a hurricane shouldn't be that bad. At least that's what I told myself... I still couldn't keep that voice out of my head that kept a thick knot in my stomach.
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| Family day at the beach... |
See Hawai'i is a state that is made up of eight islands. I flew into Honolulu but I was staying in O'ahu. The big island, which was directly in the hurricane's path, was going to get hit first. We were like fourth in line so the hurricane would have to get past a few other islands before it could actually come to us. Knowing that bit gave me a little reassurance that things may just be ok. I just felt like I wasn't tryin' to go out like a sucka... what would I look like dying in the states? I've been so many places around the world that it would be more exciting to hear about me getting caught up in a tsunami in Japan or an earthquake in Haiti... not a routine hurricane in Hawai'i... everybody knows that Hawai'i has hurricane season every year! Guess I should have known that before I booked the flight!
(WARNING: family... this was a joke ok...)
Meagen, Anthony's wife, got off of work a little early that day so we made a few errands around town. There were gas stations out of gas. There were grocery stores low on everything; specifically out of water though. People knew that if there was no water that meant no baths, no flushing toilets, nothing to drink... that could be bad. People had already been out buying and stocking their shelves with non perishables in hopes to be prepared if they were trapped in the house for days. I started to panic...
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| Anthony thought this was funny... |
When the kids got home later that evening, we found out that school had been cancelled for the following day. People were convinced that the hurricane was on its way. In addition to all of the panicking messages from friends and family checking in on Facebook, we made the mistake of turning on the news as well. I saw palm trees swaying vigorously from side to side. The man who was reporting was speaking in a terrifying slow, deep, and serious voice... of course the footage was of him in the middle of the storm about to get blown away himself. He just happened to be the brave reporter who decided to risk his life to go to Hawai'i and stand in the eye of the storm to get footage. This was pure stupidity... I don't know where he was reporting from because it hadn't even started raining where we were. We were letting that craziness effect us and that made us even more scared. We had to turn the TV off...
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| Beautiful sunset |
The next morning we woke up to strong winds and strong rain hitting the windows. The rain had finally started and there were spurts when the rain would slap into the windows really really hard and then it would just be normal rain. This happened on and off throughout the day. We didn't lose any power, water, and we weren't stuck in the house for days. As Anthony predicted, by the time it hit our island it was reported as a tropical storm. Thank you Lord for keeping us safe and covered. As soon as an opening came for me to get on a flight, I got up out of there! I made it out safe and sound without a scratch. While my post card dreams of Hawai'i are still tucked away in my heart... the next time I choose to visit I'll be sure to avoid hurricane season. Even though they aren't the typical memories that I would want to experience on vacation... I am still thankful. Thank you Hawai'i for providing me with a great story to share with my children!
Besos...
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