On Tuesday, an earthquake struck Virginia.  The shaking was felt all the way to New York.  For some reason, though, I didn’t feel anything.

While this was going on, Hurricane Irene threatened to hit Florida.  This brought back memories of growing up on Long Island.   There were two hurricanes that I can remember: Gloria and Bob.  Gloria slammed us hard.  Trees were knocked over, cars were smashed and houses had extensive damage.  A tree in our yard fell over towards my room.  At the last second, a gust of wind blew it to the one safe spot on our lawn.  (I was in my room at the time and might have been injured had it hit.)  Down the block, a neighbor had 2 cars in his driveway: a brand new one and an old one.  The old one suffered no damage, but the brand new one was smashed by a falling tree.

Years later, Hurricane Bob hit Long Island.  This one wasn’t as severe as Gloria.  I remember my mother went out during the storm to deliver some food to a family who was in mourning.  Looking out my front door, I saw the mailman deliver the mail.  I guess “during rain, sleet and snow” includes hurricanes!  Yes, I ran out in the intense winds to retrieve the mail.  There’s something exhilarating about running through 75mph winds.

There’s nothing exhilarating about Irene, however.  We had plans to see my parents, but Irene is headed right for them.  This throws our entire plan up in the air.  I hate having to “wing it.”  I like the order of a plan.  Even worse, if the hurricane hits my parents full-force, there might be flooding and/or evacuations.  There’s so much uncertainty all around.  The whole situation’s got me stressed out.

My Aloha Friday question is: What earthquakes, hurricanes, or other natural disasters have you experienced?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha Friday by Kailani at An Island Life

Aloha #102