The hurricane Irma was BAD.
How bad was it?
Look at the picture! The category 4 hurricane sucked miles of bay water near arrival. Where I'm standing in the picture, is usually covered by 4-6 feet water.
It started as early as on Tuesday. The Florida governor Scott warned us by saying "..this is the biggest in the history". In 3 days, bottles of water, gas and generators were out. I boarded my tiny house with my cowboy girlfriend carries 2 power tools like guns. Not-handy-Kuniko was useless and fell on the steps, then cracked her tailbone. It hurt like no tomorrow. My stress level jumped to my rage and roared to the hurricane sky!
I didn't wanna evacuate! Stayed in my newly renovated studio. It's framed by hurricane windows. I'm the mother of this studio! This studio is my baby!! The media urged evacuation for people living in A ZONE. I'm in C ZONE. But my friends urged me to leave and I did. I evacuated at Buddhist Temple toward inland.
After my evacuation, I was exhausted and went to bed early, just to stare at the window. It could be the category 5 hurricane, the biggest in the history. The wind was violent like Godzilla's breath. This could be the last day of my life. I thought of doing something meaningful. What could that be? Maybe Prayers? ahhhh ...I was tired of praying. I've done it allday allweek. The Lord and Buddha must have heard it already.
Again what should I do on the last day of my life ? Maybe, say goodbye to my dear friends via Video message? Nope, that's too cheesy.
How about get-up and cook? That's a good idea to make myself useful for the last day. Nope, its not my house and I'm too exhausted.
Read some books? Nope, my head is too full to bring any words in. Let's meditate and continue my thoughts.
In my meditation, I was talking to myself.
I had a great life here. Thank you everyone.
Hey, there should be more profound words than 'thank you'. Isn't there thesaurus to 'thank you'? I clicked my phone - the synonyms was 'gracias, danke'. That's it?
I wish there was a ritual to show my gratitude & love to my friends. I wish I did more for my friends. I felt the abundance of love I received in my life. I wish I could leave something but my eyelids were closing.
The violent winds woke me up several times. I felt the soft pillow and turned my head. My backpack was in front of my eyes.
I only brought a few things in my backpack to this evacuation place because the bottles of water & foods into my shelter, was critical. My fancy things such as old photos and passport were not important anymore. I wished I could bring everything with me. When I closed my eyes and imagined losing my possession, I felt helpless.
It's still dark outside at 2 AM. I opened my eyes and looked outside trees bouncing like juggler's balls. My husband used to say 'our possession is just a bunch of things, don't mean much, don't worry'. Perhaps he is protecting me by saying that from heaven.
Woke up next morning in the small bunk-bed at the temple shelter. Touched my arms and legs to know I have them. Hey, all is here! We survived. I ran and hugged everybody in the coffee room.
It's been almost one week after the hurricane Irma's hit. Slept 3 nights in my no-power-house. The damage was minimum. Fallen branches and broken fences but nothing major. It was a miracle that my house roof stayed on. The trees around the studio didn't crash the building. I'm so blessed that I decided 3 important things.
Decided to enjoy each day like no tomorrow!
Decided to never forget the abundance of love that I received in my life.
Decided to find ways to thank you in action rather than saying 'thank you'
Abundance of Love,
Kuniko