C is for Coastal

"Eye of the Storm"              Judie McEwen
Acryllic ink on Yupo paper
 

The Rogue Speaks:


When one lives on the coast, hurricanes are always a serious threat.  Today, tropical storm Andrea (aptly named, for all who know me) is passing through Florida and southern Georgia.  Since we have only lived here for less than a year, I am grateful that this is only a "tropical storm."

I left home today at 12:45 p.m. to go to a meeting.  After the meeting, a friend and I ran some errands, after which I went for a much needed haircut.  The tropical storm was slowly moving up Florida into coastal Georgia, and by the time I finished my errands and arrived at the hair stylist, the rains were quite heavy.  When I left the salon, the rain had become blinding, and I drove home going about 25-35 miles per hour on a road where the speed limit is 60.  I followed the yellow line on the left-hand side of the road.

I am grateful to be home safely.  There are many situations over which we have control in our lives, but weather is not one of them,  When one is at the mercy of the elements, anything can happen. 

I have lived through a tornado that came out of nowhere on a lovely Sunday afternoon on Lake Allatoona outside Atlanta.  It tore across the lake with such force that the coast guard just could not get out to rescue the boaters.  Our mast was snapped like a dry twig.  The twister came ashore and tossed dry-docked boats high in the air, then deposited them back to earth, smashed and twisted.  Fortunately, there were no fatal injuries.  I would not get back in a boat for 15 years.

Now I have lived through a tropical depression.  I am grateful that it was not a full-blown hurricane.  But the season is young, and even though there has not been a major hurricane to hit Jekyll Island in 114 years,  it could happen.  In fact, the laws of probability tell me that it will happen.  I won't be here, though.  We will pack up and take ourselves and our dog children to safety, and hope that when we return, our home is still standing.

Life can throw all sorts of stuff at us.  Sometimes we think we just cannot go on.  Sometimes we become so overwhelmed, that the rainbow at the end of the storm is not something that we can even comprehend.  Last June, I was standing on a boardwalk at Jekyll with my son, Jeff.  There had been squalls all around us earlier in the afternoon that had sent us scurrying from the beach, back to the safety of the house.  As we looked far out to sea, out to the horizon, a rainbow appeared--then another, and yet another, AND five more after that!  One after another, they popped up.  There were more rainbows together than I have ever seen in my life.  I think the final count was nine.

I wish my poor, feeble mind could remember those rainbows every day.

This post was written on Thursday, for Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday.  I had to put it aside because we were getting ready for the arrival of Aimee and the twins.  They are here now, and we are heading off to Jekyll to build sand castles.  I checked the radar twice this morning, just to be sure no storms were heading in.  We're safe.