Flood of Memories

Last week I was mildly preoccupied with checking on Hurricane Irene. I am a weather nerd. Always have been. Growing up on the eastern seabord definitely prompted my interest. Most years we would have a storm scare--schools shut down, board up the windows, stock up on the storm supplies, and hope and pray no trees would fall on the house. We lived in Norfolk, Virginia which is either below sea level or like 3 feet above it (actually, the Experts have determined the city is slowly sinking...). It's pretty much a swamp. Most people live within walking distance from some creek, river, or bay.

All of the Irene coverage made me homesick. I saw so many familiar sights and pretty soon nostalgia took over. Even the storm surge maps made me recall the different houses we had lived in, my old schools, the library, etc.

The thing about Hampton Roads (the area including Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and other surrounding cities) is that it is perched north of the part of the North Carolina that juts out into the ocean (the Outer Banks). The Outer Banks usually seem to catch hurricanes and then deflect them from Hampton Roads. So we would get rain, some flooding, heavy surf, and wind but would be spared the disaster that has occured with the more southern states. No matter though. When I was a kid I would literally stay up all night staring at the radar watching the storm inch closer and closer to us. I'd run outside and watch the clouds race by. If I could have sneaked by my mother I would have ridden my bike down the three blocks to the waterfront. Truthfully I was a little afraid of being outdoors during a storm though so maybe I was secretly glad my mom was on watch.

When I was six years old, Hurricane Gloria visited the east coast. I got up before dawn, at the height of the storm, and decided to go out and experience hurricane force winds first hand. I literally was blown off our porch (I weighed around 32 pounds at the time)and had to crawl back to the door which was nearly impossible for my weakling self to open against the gale force wind. "My dad is going to beat me!" kept going through my mind.

My dad probably would have beat me if he had known about my super smart decision to personally check the weather conditions during a hurricane. But he really didn't have a leg to stand on. You see, he was guilty of dragging our family through very rough seas trying to haul tail home due to the approach of Hurricane Charley in 1986. It went like this: before we actually lived on a boat we used to take one of my granddad's boats, the "Moonlight Sonata" out on weekends and vacations. It was summer, we were out fishing and cruising around (I don't remember where, just that it was at least a full day's cruise from port). We had spent a few days and nights out and I do recall there was some real good fishing (I was a fishing fanatic as a child). Apparently we were having such a good time that no one remembered to check the weather (I'm guessing...). Well, one morning I was up before the rest of the family and I turned on the radio to discover that a hurricane was coming our way. I'm pretty sure I wasn't allowed to be messing with the radio because I didn't say anything about my newly discovered information for a few hours (again with the "Dad is going to beat me.") Finally, I told my mom who immediately freaked out and told my dad who promptly checked the forecast and had the Moonlight Sonata turned around before he'd even had breakfast.

I don't recall the waves being anything to be excited about when we started out towards home but I do know that by the time we got near the naval base my dad had donned a yellow slicker and my mom, sister, and I were sequestered in the cabin. The boat was positively rolling at this point and waves were splashing over the deck. The wind had definitely picked up. It was impossible to walk around in the cabin without holding on for dear life. I was pretty sure we were going to die (I think my mom was too--she made us put life jackets on which never happened). I peeked out the door at one point (to see if my dad was still steering the boat or if he had been washed overboard). He yelled at me to shut the door and I was glad to because it was terrifying to see all that water. Plus you could tell just how much we were getting tossed around because of how close we were to land--I saw the bay, the land flashed by, and then there was sky, quick glimpse of far away land, then the bay again. Not good.

Anyway, we made it home in time and Hurricane Charley came through. Pretty sure my dad kept up on the weather report after that. I know I have. Ever since that time, 25 years ago, I have been quite in tune with the forecast. If my dad were still alive today he would most definitely have WeatherBug on his computer and the Weather Channel app on his Iphone.

(Thanks to anyone who endured reading this! Rambling old 32 year old fool, haha!).