Surviving Life Challenges & Hurricane Nicholas

Tropical Storm Nicholas became a category 1 hurricane in the wee hours of this morning.

Thankfully, a Cat 1 is relatively mild, and this hurricane became more of a wind event than a rain one. The picture at left, not a local current photo, illustrates what is meant by a wind event, and a mild one at that.

Still, when we awoke this morning, about half a million customers south of I-10 were without power. 

That's down to about 400,000 now, still a lot. According to the power company, many of those homes and businesses will be without power for a week or longer.

We feel really fortunate to have kept power and to have had very little rain. I never want to experience another event like Hurricane Harvey. Once in a lifetime is more than enough.

Why I've Been Offline

I've been off-line for the last 3 weeks because each day was tough to get through. 

(1) Our older daughter survived CoVid pneumonia and is home now. She's still fighting to get back to normal health.

There may be cardiac damage, but that's a long story I don't want to think about. We'll know more after she has an echo cardiogram.

(2) Our younger daughter and her husband who were vaccinated contracted CoVid. Their biggest ailment was extreme tiredness. However, our daughter who has a genetic condition that makes her immune response problematic developed bronchitis. She's negative for CoVid now but still bothered by the bronchitis.

(3) Our friend and former neighbor has been in the hospital nearly 6 weeks, hanging on in her battle with CoVid. She was not vaccinated.

(4) Home remodeling took a back seat to all the CoVid bad news. We were exposed to CoVid via our younger daughter, and we had to self-quarantine for 2 weeks so we had to call a halt to all the work on the house.

(5) Remodeling also has been extremely slow due to contractors unable to obtain materials. For example, it took 6 weeks from the time we contracted with a guttter company for them to be able to obtain the metal needed to install the gutters.

(6) When we were clear, our electrician team got started. A couple of days later, our electrician had a health scare and was put on a heart monitor. He got the all clear to return to work so half the kitchen lighting was done last week. Yesterday, he canceled so he could get his boat out of the water at Port O'Connor. He lives south of I-10 and now has no power so he won't be back until power is restored at his home.

Missing My Bounce-Back

The last few years have been challenging for family and friends with cancer, surgeries, bleak futures for some, and deaths and then with our older daughter in the hospital fighting for her life, I found myself missing emotionally spent.

A couple of weeks later, I realized my ability to emotionally bounce back was strained. To be honest, I've spent most of August and into September feeling negative and blue.

I've had no urge to write and even stopped reading for a while. Instead, I channel surfed in an effort not to think and worry. I officially told family and friends I needed a break from everything.

Doing What Made Me Feel Better

Surrounded by packing boxes, I turned my attention to doing something to make me feel better. We hadn't unpacked because we kept waiting for the remodeling to be finished so painters could then get started.

I figured at the rate the remodeling was moving along, painting is still several weeks away. So I said the heck with it and started unpacking. I've even hung the paintings and done other decorating.

We've weathered the first hurricane in our new home. For the first time, this house is beginning to feel like home because it's starting to look like home! 

Takeaway Truth

Life moves on, and I'm moving with it which is why I blogged today.

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