Six years ago today it was also Friday the 13th, but we were spending our day much differently. We were expecting a hurricane to hit Tampa which would cause us to have possible flooding. Because my parents lived further from the water we stayed at their house for the day (2 weeks actually) A couple hours before it hit we learned that Hurricane Charley was to hit Fort Myers, which it did only fifteen minutes before crossing over Charlotte Harbor. Grandpa was in Maryland with Mr. Scott so it was me, Johnny, Anthony, Grandma and Aunt Kim all crammed in the guest bathroom at my parents. Watching a little black and white television waiting for the storm. Before that I remember Johnny outside in the driveway with an umbrella that was turned upside down by the strong winds and he looked like Mary Poppins about to float away. I bundled four month old Anthony in long sleeve onsie, long pants, a hat and mittens. I was trying to be a good mom and protect him from flying debre, not realizing it's summertime, in Florida and that the storm would cause the power to go out (for 2 wks) and that poor little Anthony would get all sweaty (he was sweaty on a cold day too) Little guy slept thru the whole thing and his daddy slept for most of it too. I remember Kim was in the tub. I was next to her (in front of the toilet that was making really creepy noises - the water was being sucked out of it) then there was Johnny and Anthony and Grandma sitting in front of the door. I remember being so scared when we heard the kitchen windows break and shortly after Grandma whispering to Johnny and asking him if he could feel air coming from under the bathroom door. She suspected that the sliding glass door that leaded to the lanai may have broken which could cause the roof to blow off (thank God it hadn't) There was no running water for a week and no electricity for two. The next day we ventured out to see if our house had made it thru the storm. We went up Bayshore and trees were down and a big truck was laying on its side. Water was in the road. Once we got to our street we had to drive thru a neighbors front yard to get to our house due to down trees and power lines in the road. Our neighbors homes on both sides were destoyed. Our little house looked almost the same. We lost some shutters, some screens in the lanai, our grapefruit tree and our shed with all its contents. I think it was our ugly concrete roof that saved it. When we went inside there were baby snakes on the living room floor. I'm still not sure how that happened. We went back to my parents to stay. (all of our food had gone bad, our house smelled, we had no water or electric) Grandpa was on the way home with diapers for the baby (stores would be closed) and he was gonna fix everything. The next day Johnny worked in the yard and collected branches and roof shingles (they were everywhere) Grandma turned on her survivor mode and saved as much food as she could and put it in a cooler (she saved the cheesecake - which Johnny would be greatful for later, he had cheesecake and hot fudge every night) I had to stay inside with Anthony all day and mostly whined. It was hot and I was bored and getting tired of being couped up inside all day. Since there was no electric and no water we could not shower (which made me extra cranky) so we cooled off in the pool (another reason to stay there) Grandpa came home and picked up the motor home from the garage. WE HAD AIR. One day Dad and I went out for supplies. There were trucks handing out water, ice, diapers, canned food and baby food. We got lots of baby food. About a mile away from home we ran out of gas and it started to rain. If we didn't hurry we would be out past curfew (the whole town had one) He gave me two options and he would let me decide. One was to walk down 41 (the long way) or cut thru a (very full) ditch. I am deathly afraid of alligators and not to fond of snakes. I asked what he would rather do. He said go thru the ditch (there were two actually) but he would do what I wanted. I thought it was only fair to choose the ditch because that's what he would have done if I wasn't there. It was so full of water and I was so scared. By the time we got to the second ditch my flip flop got stuck in the muddy water and I couldn't find it so had to go the rest of they way barefoot. One thing I can say about my dad is that he may be old and not in the best health but boy could he walk fast. I could barely keep up.
Two years later on August 13th we were living in my parents basement (for the 2nd time) and I was watching the one year Charley anniversary Grandma had Tivo'd the year before. I was watching it all these emotions came back to me. I remember feeling so grateful that everyone else was asleep because I was balling. Now as I am writing this I have goosebumps and I'm shaking. I don't understand why. I don't remember it being all that bad. Our family survived and so did our homes with very little damage. Our lives are much better today because of that storm but for some reason every year at this time I cry. I guess maybe because for the first time I had something I couldn't stand to lose, Anthony Thomas Bryant.
