Hurricanes and Other Things

Irene has come & gone, and other than a very windy day we didn't see anything here in our neck of NC. I have been keeping tabs on one friend to see if they made it through alright. I emailed a second cousin to check on her before/after, but haven't heard from her. I'm guessing she's okay, just without power, but I know her area was hit hard. I watched a photo slide show from the areas of NC & southeastern VA that were hit. OH MY!!!! It was so surreal to see photos of the Outer Banks and Morehead City. Oh, how I love that area- so beautiful!!! I just kept calling Rob, "Come look at this! Rob, come see this!" There were photos of Highway 12 that runs through the OBX, and the ocean has washed the road away in several places!!! I am praying for all the families who have lost loved ones or suffered losses from this storm.

Irene brought me a gift this weekend too. But first, I have to back up a little bit, or a lot.

I was pretty quiet in high school, just sat as far back as I could in class and prayed to not be noticed. I was in the honors classes and graduated high in my class. I knew all the kids I was in classes with, but usually sat there quietly watching and listening and never interacted much with any of them. They were all popular, partied and did things together. I was just the nerdy, shy girl in there with them. I didn't think that any of them would even really remember me, let alone like me. Hmmm... you couldn't get me to relive those teenaged years again for any price in the world!!!! I even graduated early because I was so lonely and miserable in high school.

Fast forward all these years later (23 to be exact) and lo & behold, a few of them do remember me and are now my FB friends. Who'd a thunk it? :) Certainly not me!

Sarah lives in the Norfolk, VA, area. Her hubby is in the Navy and is stationed out there. He had to go with the helicopters before the storm hit, and she decided to leave and not ride the storm out in case in got bad. She FB'd me and next thing you know she was headed to G'boro! So Saturday morning, she pulled up and hopped out, and she hasn't changed much at all- still the ever-present smile I remembered from class all those years ago! It was so nice! We tried to feed her a good home-cooked meal and chatted. Barbara was excited to meet Sarah too, and we ladies had a good time! I was surprised because it didn't feel like I was meeting a stranger I sort of knew from years gone by (which is what I would have expected), but it felt like I was meeting a friend I haven't seen in years. That's, I'm sure due to FB where we've been able to get to know each other a little. And as we talked I realized how a lot of those silly teenaged insecurities were for nothing as everyone else was dealing with their own very similar insecurities and issues. Oh, if this Rebekah could go talk to that one!

And the rest of the weekend- well it was normal life stuff- Donors Choose screenings, lesson plan writing... yeah, like that. And may I just say that I forgot that it is a bit challenging to fit two grades' lesson plans into mine. I am going back and forth between two grade levels' curriculum planners, two grades' lesson plans, plus a lot of other resources too. I better get going- newsletter, seating charts, reading logs, and more are still waiting on me.

One funny thing before I go. Saturday afternoon, while the wind was gusting pretty good and the clouds were swirling around (the sum total of the non-drama we saw from Irene), I heard an ice cream truck go through our neighborhood, and I PROMISE, I'm not lying, it was playing "Silent Night!" In August, with a hurricane brewing just an hour away and the wind, clouds, humidity churning up here quite a bit. I was sure that if I looked out my window, I'd see Rod Serling telling me I had just entered "the Twilight Zone." :)