Golden Years, rebuilding

My sister lives in Las Vegas and said, “Don’t forget to take your favorite toy.”

As children we would all huddle into the hallway of our home, with our favorite toy to comfort us, to ride out the hurricanes.

We evacuated to Alabama for one hurricane. It was worse there than it was in Panama City.

My husband and I thought about leaving but we decided to stay to make sure my brother, who was recovering from triple by-pass surgery, was safe.

The first noise we heard was the wind howling through the gutters. They eventually ripped off.

My plan was for us to ride out the storm in the bathroom off of our master bedroom.

I stood in the door way of the bathroom and my husband sat on our bed. Quiet and not moving. I prayed that he wouldn’t have a heart attack.

He had served in Vietnam. Was his quiet demeanor bringing him back to that time?

Later he said he was thinking. Thinking about starting over and having to spend our golden years rebuilding. At our age, it wasn’t something we thought we would ever have to do.

Water started pouring in from the light fixtures in the bathroom. Then a steady leak in the dining room. I used towels to clean up the water but it was pointless.

Then the garage caved in.

I prayed to just live through this. I didn’t care if we lost everything, I just wanted to make it.

It got really quiet and still. Was it over? It was the eye passing over us.

A few hours later it really was over and we walked outside. It was a war zone. A house two doors down from us was destroyed. Later we heard that it was hit by a tornado. I was glad to hear the pregnant mom and her family had evacuated.

We took inventory of our damages. Every room was destroyed. Standing water and insulation was everywhere. We could hear things falling. I was to afraid to sleep in the house so we spent the night in my husband’s truck.

The next day we went to check on my brother. Huge trees were in his house. We could hear him call out to us, “I am ok.”

When we finally got to him, we cried and hugged each other. We spent the night with him and then the next day drove to my son’s house in Tallahassee.

Not having any communication was the worst. When we finally got cell phone service, I facetimed with my daughter who lives in California. We are close and talk regularly. Not knowing if we survived was agonizing for her. She said she would never take talking to me for granted again.

I will never forget the kindness of our friends and family after the hurricane.

My daughter was able to file our insurance claim for us because we didn’t have cell reception or internet service.

My son drove in from Tallahassee, taking back roads, to help our family in Panama City.

My sister and some of her friends in Las Vegas sent me clothes and other essential items. They were like angels. Caring and thoughtful, anticipating our needs.

My daughter-in-law posted on Facebook that we needed a place to live. Miraculously, someone replied and we moved into an apartment in Breakfast Point. Although, we didn’t have any furniture or personal belongings to move into the new place. Some kind people donated a futon and a dining room table set. We bought a mattress.

Servpro came in and ripped out the wet carpets and dry wall. They piled everything up on the curb. I know it is just stuff but it is our stuff. It was hard to see it discarded like trash.

We tried to salvage as much as we could from our home.

The Servpro team was very kind and understanding. I asked one of the workers if they could find a box that contained my salt and pepper shaker collection. My mother had given them to me and she died a few years ago. Unfortunately, the box was destroyed.

My dad’s rocking chair that he loved was covered in mold. These were the small pieces of our family history that we no longer have to hand down to our grandchildren.

I am an Area Supervisor for McDonald’s and was back to work five days after the hurricane. We checked on our employees and worked to get our restaurants cleaned and operating again. A hot meal was a commodity in those first days after the storm.

After Hurricane Katrina I had sympathy for the people of New Orleans but I couldn’t really appreciate what they went through. I can now.

Like a lot of people, we are battling with our insurance company. We hired a public adjustor to help us. Our home has been gutted and we have new insulation and sheet rock but we can’t go any further with the repairs until the insurance company agrees to pay for them.

I have lived in Panama City my entire life. I have worked at McDonald’s for over 20 years. My brother is here and my co-workers are like family. We considered leaving. It is still a consideration but it won’t be a decision we make lightly.