Rita GO AWAY!

My rock is gone. I have no one to look to for reassurance. I need him with me today - not in a country a continent away...

Today was miserable. The unknowing always kills me. We hear of tornadoes when the hurricanes come onshore, and the weather is worse than deplorable.

The winds picking up more and more as the day progresses. The rain starts, the winds howling, the trees bending and twisting like you could never imagine - and then it gets worse. When you are looking in the sky and hear the hum of the storm, you have to wonder if the tornadoes are right above you - out in that fury waiting for you to turn away. The horizonal rain whipping from left to right, then immediately from twisting right to left. You SEE the wind currents flipping irratically and the winds incredible force shoves you back into the breezeway. You FEEL the pressure dropping. You HEAR the whistling. Close your eyes in the black of the night, and you KNOW you could be doomed.

And all around the garden the rest of the world lives, and breathes, and laughs. Do they not know what thousands are going through? Do they not hold their breath and say prayers for mercy? Do they not know natures fury is upon us and taking our very breath away? Can they not hear our cries of fear?

In the black of the night, we rested between squalls. The FFLLLLLLTTT! of roofing tiles being ripped off the roof above us as we 'rest' beneath the storm. Nudges in the black of night from frightened animals wanting reassurance from those they trust. Tree branches cracking and tumbling and rain pummeling the plywood 'windows'. The metal clinking of gutters and awnings breaking loose from their holds, in the night we hear whimpers of a scared child. Flickers of electric sends us racing to the tv to see if we are still under the grasp of the storm upon us - or if we are finally released from Rita's fury. The return of the black tells us we may never know. The unknown is incredibly frightening.

We 'rest' and wait for tomorrow. We 'rest' and HOPE for tomorrow.