Remembering...20 Years Later

For the past week the newspaper has been filled with remembrances of Hurricane Hugo. It happened in September, 1989 - 20 years ago. The memories have not faded too much - it was such a major event in our lives here. Our yard was quite messed up, and we were without power for 9 days, but we were lucky. These were just inconveniences. Many had their homes devastated and some lost their lives.

I remember our waking to the noise of the storm Last we had heard, the storm was headed up the east coast, and not having watched any television or listened to the radio for hours before we went to bed, we had no idea that the course had changed. I turned on the TV, and just as the reporter said "the eye of the storm is about to pass through Charlotte, NC," the power went out. A might oak in our front yard went down, away from the house, and took out the power for our whole neighborhood. We woke the kids and scooted them downstairs - we have a finished basement and this would be the safest place for us all to stay.

It seemed like forever until daylight came. It was hard to believe what we saw when we went outside. There was a sea of leaves everywhere and many trees were down. The large oak that went down out front had been completely uprooted.

The week turned into an adventure. Some family came to help with some of the yard clean-up. We once again had use for our camping equipment. We even learned that a frozen pizza could be cooked on the gas grill. Friends who had gotten their power back much sooner than we did blessed us with meals.

When the power went on, it was bittersweet. The four of us really pulled together that week and made the most of the situation. The kids were real troopers - helping as much as they could with cleanup and amusing themselves. I really enjoyed having dinner delivered every night. When the lights went on, so did the television. It had been so nice to be without it. Although, I do have to admit, one more game of Monopoly might have done me in!