Getting Ready For Ivan

You may find this hard to believe, but I just haven't been watching the news very much lately. I'm depressed enough as it is. My mother, on the other hand, watches enough of CNN to keep us all informed. Daddy watches FOX [their house is a war-zone, just based on that fact, if you know what I mean] My mom called me this morning and asked if I could take her to Wal-Mart. "Sure," I say, "I'll be there around noon." WHY didn't someone tell me it was going to be so bad? I haven't seen so many people in a panic at a Wal-Mart, since the Blizzard of 93! I wore cut off jeans and flip-flops. Big mistake! I got ran over, and bumped so many times, I am sore all over. I finally looked at the last person that got up too close on my backside with their shopping cart and I said, "If one more person runs over me, they won't have to worry about Ivan!" Then, I realized that she was way bigger than my little ole 5' 01" self. [gulp] She gave me a dirty look and backed away. [Thank-God!] My cousin, Sue was with us and I figured we could both take her if she was waiting for me outside.

When we first got there, I asked, "What's the deal? What are so many people doing at Wal-Mart on a Tuesday?" Mama looked at me like I was from another planet and said, "Why, Hurricane Ivan! Don'tcha ever watch the news?!?" “Well, no, mama. I figure you watch the news and worry enough for all of us.” We live 4 hours north of the gulf coast; we've never had to prepare for a hurricane. I'm still not gettin' it. But a little old man was kind enough to explain to me that this was a very dangerous hurricane and we're expected to get a lot of tornadoes and bad floods. Oh, great.

Mama and I were trying to squeeze our way down the canned meat and soup aisle when I overheard a man on his cell phone saying, “They are all out of batteries and matches, and running low on water, it’s gonna be bad!” You just don’t know how I have panic attacks when the weather is involved. Everyone in my family has an innate fear of tornadoes. When my mother was a little girl, they survived a terrible tornado that wiped out most of the town they were living in. Papaw was the pastor of the church and their house was just behind the church. Papaw ordered everyone out of the house, into the church. The house was crumbled to pieces, but the church was untouched. How’s that? I realize that tornadoes touch down and then go back up and scientifically, it could have been a coincidence, but I choose to believe it was a miracle, and I‘ll never believe otherwise. My Papaw was a very faithful servant to God. I guess it just wasn’t his time to go yet; he had too much work left to do on earth.

Okay, let me wrap this up. Stephen is waiting for my attention. I was in a little bit of a panic about batteries after I heard that man. We have tons of candles; I’m not worried about not having lights in the house, Stephen will be able to look at his books. But I am worried, should we lose power about Stephen not having a TV. He has a small black and white TV that uses D-size batteries. Sue found one pack of discarded off-brand D-size batteries on a shelf and grabbed them for me. I just checked and his TV needs nine, D-size batteries. How many are in the pack? Eight! Grrrrr … just our luck. LOL!

Really, I am hoping and praying that everyone is overreacting. I am praying that Ivan fizzles out before hitting the gulf coast. Let’s pray for everyone in the path of Ivan, and continue praying for those in Florida, who know too well, the destruction that is possible.