good night irene

Everyone here is bracing for Hurricane Irene, which, like most tropical hurricanes, is unpredictable and could go any direction at any moment. Right now, it seems like south Florida will escape the eye. Hopefully that trend will continue and that it will miss the rest of the eastern seaboard as well.

I am getting my first taste of hurricane season mania here. So many people have the weather on 24/7. Not to mention the long gas lines and stockpiling. I get that we should all be prepared, but I also think some folks just like to overdramatize, to feel part of a bigger something.

The preoccupation with the weather by people in Florida, impending hurricane or no, is just as perplexing to me as the folks in the DC metro area who could only talk about the best way to approach the Capital Beltway. So many people I knew there would always have "the best route" and loved to talk and talk about different approaches in and out of the city. Yawn. I would get to wherever I was going whichever road I took. It was impossible to get lost, the Beltway circles the city. But I digress.

I just don't need any more drama than I already have. I can't control the weather, but I also don't want it to control me. When my daughter asked what a hurricane was like I told her it's a bit like the scene in The Wizard of Oz with the twister, except coming from the ocean. I'm not sure how reassuring that was, but she adores the movie and now has a pretty good idea.

Either we'll stay here and hunker down or we'll be told we have to leave. Like everyone else, I have to keep an eye on the weather. Just not every 15 minutes.

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