I was at Daytona Beach for the past 7 days. We left on Wed morning to take the granddaughters to Disney world. We still had 2 nights at the beach but decided to drive north after our Disney day. We had already had trouble finding gas at Daytona. My Friday 7 am flight was cancelled so we all piled in the car and drove back home. We were 2 hours north before we found a gas station that actually had some gas. Bumper to bumper traffic and took us a full 2 hours to drive through the Atlanta area. Miserable travel day but we were all safe and made it home. We had 5 great beach days and a magical day at Disney. The girls are 4 and 6. They were enchanted for sure. It was so fun to enjoy their first Disney trip with them!
I live in St Johns county and we managed to get through Matthew ok, however no electricity since Friday afternoon. My sister and her family were evacuated and had to come to my house along with my 2 kids, daughter's boyfriend, dog and a cat. Ironic everyone went home and had power and I'm still sitting here without 2 and a half days later. At this point, everything in fridge and freezer is most likely gone. The whole ordeal of preparing and cleaning up has depressed me greatly as my husband used to take care of all that. Despite having family around and people to help I still was super anxious and I know it's because he wasn't here to calm me and run around preparing for everything. He was in the ALF with people caring for him, food prepared, Generators ready in case of a power outage. I'm typing all this on my phone since I have no computer or internet connection. I've lived in FL all my life so this is not my first hurricane I've prepared for or cleaned up after. It is, however, my first one without my husband by my side. I really do not like my new "normal" and what my life has become. I am just on autopilot right now, going through the motions. I guess that will change one day.
Aww Sass, I hope you can sit back and relax for a bit and imagine all of us giving you a virtual hug. "First one without my husband by my side." Strikes a chord. For all of us I bet. Breathe. Hope your power comes back soon.
I live in Florida. My kids kidnapped me with an hour's notice to their house south of where Matthew came ashore. My poor cat was very unhappy. I was fearful to what I would see when I got home. Aside from fallen tree limbs all was well. My poor daughter in SC wont't have power restored for a week.
bhv, Thanks for the virtual hugs!! The power finally came on at 4:00 am this morning. I woke up at 1:00 am because I couldn't sleep and then realized I hadn't put my trash out. Like many others, my day got moved because of the storm. So I get up and start emptying the trash, then realize my refrigerator needs to be emptied since it had been so long since it had been on. All the ice I had prepared to preserve the food had melted and it was not cold at all. So I emptied the fridge and freezer, and dragged 2 garbage bins to the curb at 1:30 in the morning! I was praying no one saw me since I looked a little like a crazy lady. Then I couldn't sleep and decided that I should email my boss and tell him I was not going to work today and took the day off. Rather than feel guilty like I usually do I allowed myself to just say the heck with it, I deserve a break and I'm staying home. I still didn't have electricity at that point and would have had to drive across town to my daughters to shower and then go to work. I was tossing and turning unable to sleep but finally started to drift off...then the electricity came on!! Lights on everywhere! So I get up and start to turn them off, then the alarm goes off and I can't get it off!!! I wake my son to help and he finally gets it to stop. At that point, I am wired for sound and needed to take a little something so I could sleep. Luckily the drama is over.
bluedaze - I am so glad you and your cat are safe and sound. My sister's cat was definitely freaked out by the storm and half the time we couldn't find him because he was hiding, afraid of the storm. I hope and pray your daughter gets her power sooner vs later. My heart goes out to her. Hopefully she is safe as well.
You have been through an ordeal, Sass but once you have coped with Alzheimers, you can survive anything, right? Glad that the worst is over for you and that you and your family are safe.