It certainly feels like we dodged a bullet. Actually, a\nglimpse at how Hurricane Dorian left the Bahamas and we know it wasn\u2019t a\nbullet. More like a tropical bomb. One that had been headed right for Florida.\nIt only stopped at our doorstep and reconsidered because a timely weather\nsystem swooped down and gently nudged the hurricane on a neat, narrow path\naround the state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For that, we are grateful. Dorian comes a day earlier, or\nthat trough arrives a little late, and this is a different column. This is probably\na different state. Look at the Bahamas, if you don\u2019t believe me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it took so long for it all to unfold. What was it?\nAlmost a week? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What did you do with all that time? Waiting on the world\u2019s\nslowest hurricane to galumph its way up the Florida coast? Sloth-like in its\ncalculated, slow-motion crawl. So close to St. Augustine that it was agonizing\nand terrifying. Yet, just far enough away that some incredibly powerful\ncomputers, and the meteorologists who call them friends, said it would keep the\nwinds and waters out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And we believed them. Thank goodness they were right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it was so much time. Time to prepare and make sure we\nwere ready. And then time to sit down and stare endlessly at a stream of\ninformation coming out of TVs and phones and weather maps and Hurricane Center\nforecasts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where would it go? Was it wobbling? Was it on course? Were\nthey right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the mind wanders, doesn\u2019t it? Mine to a colleague who\ntexted about eating MREs. Meals-Ready-to-Eat. Pre-packaged military meals with\nlittle packets of coffee and snacks and other goodies that tantalize the boy in\nme. He had a box of them. I was jealous. I had some cold pizza and a can of\nboiled chicken. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To the sermon of Pastor Hunter Camp, delivered at historic\nMemorial Presbyterian in downtown St. Augustine the Sunday before it all\nstarted to happen. When we still weren\u2019t sure if the waters would come here, or\nif the cross on that precious dome might come down again. He said to let go of\nyour worries. That our \u201cstuff\u201d was just that: replaceable stuff. To trust that\nit would all work out. And to be patient with one another. It was cathartic,\nand just what I needed to hear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To the feelings of disappointment after Dorian passed. Is\nthat what it was?!? Could it possibly be? Human nature, I suspect. Did you feel\nit, too? That we had worked so hard and prepared and done everything we could\nto make sure we were ready. And for what? The hurricane barely tested us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s silly, isn\u2019t it? This feeling of post-storm \u201cletdown.\u201d\nThinking maybe the prepping wasn\u2019t all necessary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, of course, it was. Look at the Bahamas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I remind myself that the point of getting ready \u2013 of being\nprepared \u2013 isn\u2019t to actually brave the worst. It\u2019s to be ready, and then hope\nthe worst never comes at all. Not to see if we can live up to the test, but to ultimately\ndodge it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And my thoughts ultimately drifted to the people in the\nBahamas. How a storm stalling out on top of them meant that we can be here\nthinking these things in the comfort of our unscathed homes. That our good\nfortune is a byproduct of their misfortune. That had it not stopped there, it\nwould have inevitably stopped here. For that, we are grateful. But that\u2019s also why\nI\u2019ll be making a donation to help the Bahamas. Because I know just how close it\nwas to being us. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It certainly feels like we dodged a bullet. Actually, a glimpse at how Hurricane Dorian left the Bahamas and we know it wasn\u2019t a bullet. More like a tropical bomb. One that had been headed right for Florida. It only stopped at our doorstep and reconsidered because a timely weather system swooped down and gently nudged the hurricane on a neat, narrow path around the state. <\/p>\n
For that, we are grateful. Dorian comes a day earlier, or that trough arrives a little late, and this is a different column. This is probably a different state. Look at the Bahamas, if you don\u2019t believe me.<\/p>\n
But it took so long for it all to unfold. What was it? Almost a week? <\/p>\n
What did you do with all that time? Waiting on the world\u2019s slowest hurricane to galumph its way up the Florida coast? Sloth-like in its calculated, slow-motion crawl. So close to St. Augustine that it was agonizing and terrifying. Yet, just far enough away that some incredibly powerful computers, and the meteorologists who call them friends, said it would keep the winds and waters out. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[575,558,563,569],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2019-nutshells","category-florida","category-houses","category-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1972"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1973,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1972\/revisions\/1973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}