Prepacking

In my planner list of "to-do's" for this past weekend was a line that read "prepack." It's a normal thing for me to have on my list right before a trip and I am supposed to be leaving this week for a couple weeks of travel. "Prepack" reminds me to wash all of my clothes for the upcoming trip and set any aside that I want to be clean for packing and might otherwise wear in the interim. My husband thinks it's kind of silly.

This time around though "prepack" meant something else entirely. I packed a duffel and a backpack for a possible three week trip on Thursday night, as Hurricane Harvey formed in the Gulf. I knew that, if I chose to leave ahead of the storm, there was a good chance that I would not be coming back before my mid-week planned departure. In the end though, I was too worried about missing work before an already planned, prolonged absence (for the upcoming travel) and chose to stay put. After all, my boss and university were both insisting that Monday would be business as usual.

Close friends (and, frankly, amazingly generous people) gave me space in a garage for my car, even though it meant that their own would weather the storm outside. I chose to leave my bags packed though, in case we had to evacuate quickly. The first night, Friday night and Saturday morning, as Hurricane Harvey made landfall well south of us, was loud and stormy (and I was infinitely thankful that my car was sheltered) but otherwise it was pretty alright and I woke up feeling good about my decision to stay. Saturday night and Sunday morning took an abrupt left turn. I had kept my bags packed all along but, by the time it seemed like a good idea to be leaving, the roads were flooding and it had become not an option. (Well, it had become not a good or safe option.)

Between the tornado warnings (get to low ground!) and the flash flood warnings (get to high ground!), Saturday night was pretty sleepless and by 4 am everyone in the house was up and watching either the rapidly rising water outside or the news coverage of the event on the tv. Thankfully, we didn't flood and have had electricity throughout. So we're okay so far and, honestly, incredibly blessed to be doing far better than many other people I know in the area.

For me, at least, it's been an incredibly stressful few days. Our old house was sold just in time as it is now severely flooded. I feel both incredibly lucky and incredibly bad for the folks who bought it (not words I ever thought I'd say after the nightmare that was the process of selling the house to those particular buyers). I have friends all over the city who have experienced flooding. Some have been evacuated. Others have to wait it out on an upper floor. There are so many heart warming stories of people helping each other. I am so, so incredibly grateful to everyone who has reached out to check on me over the last few days. It has meant so much to me, especially in my current, super emotional, state of being. Below are a few pictures from my limited view of the past few days.

Shelves on Thursday night as the storm approached. Happily, I know how to bake bread. ;-)

A reminder to fill up on gas. Too bad none of us can get anywhere but, hey, at least we all have full tanks!

Friday afternoon as Harvey began to make landfall... over 200 miles away.

Just a few of the warnings from an eventful Saturday night.

The street after flood waters had begun to recede during a break in the rain on Sunday. Just 12(ish) hours earlier, water reached just below the back bumper of the truck in the picture.