In New England, where I live, we are fortunate enough to have many hurricanes that at first threaten to come barreling up the East coast go out to sea instead. When they don't go out to sea they sometimes follow a path over land, which diminishes their winds and turns former hurricanes into nothing more than "tropical storms". The last big hurricane that had hit Massachusetts had occurred when I was a child, so when Hurricane Gloria was about to hit Massachusetts back in the late 1980's I was nervous.

My children were young. My daughter was a baby. My husband wasn't home during the time when preparing for the storm was required, so I was the one who went out and brought in lawn furniture and sandboxes and did whatever I could do to protect the windows. As weather reports made it clear that Gloria was headed directly our way I was worried but knew it was up to me to protect my children. The warm, pre-storm, winds were actually quite lovely, so I opened the sliders to my dining room to let this rare and particularly nice air come through the house.

I had my two sons find some games and building toys that would keep them busy for a while, and I got whatever toys I thought would entertain my daughter. We put the light on in the hall, and I tried to give the boys the idea that it would be kind of fun to play in the hall. Just as I hadn't really understood the impact of the hurricane that had hit when I was a child, my sons were young enough to not be awfully worried. All I remembered about the serious hurricane was the view of it through my bedroom window, which, except for some branches rubbing against the glass and some blowing sticks, was quite limited. Since the hall had no windows I shut the bedroom doors both for safety and to keep my sons from seeing out the windows. I put the baby gate up to make sure my newly walking daughter didn't leave the hall/play-room. I had no idea of what kind of damage may occur, and I'll admit I was more than a little nervous as the storm began to hit Massachusetts.

Ever the vigilant protector of my babies, I sat by the dining room sliders and watched to see if we may have reason to evacuate or reason to go to a different part of the house. My plan was to shut the sliding doors when the storm appeared to require it. As my children played happily in the hall, I sat with my tea and waited for the inevitable power failure or other signs of potential danger. The breezes blew the drapes farther out than usual

• 1
• 2
• 3
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about Humor: Natural disasters?
We want to hear your view. Write now!