By DARLENE VANNEDGEWATER, Fla. -- Thank God the hurricane and loss of electricity is finally over.
I was fortunate to have a "whole house generator."
Well, it says whole house but doesn’t run my electric stove or the water heater so seven days of microwaved food and cold showers was not fun. Add in a mother who is bedbound on hospice and stores without supplies and it was a very difficult time.
There was no damage to my house here in the City of Edgewater; just a bunch of debris in the yard, which a friend picked up for me. The generator kept running out of oil and stopping and I had to get someone to get it going again so it got very hot in the house a few times. That was not fun, but I count my blessings knowing many others were much worse off than we were.
There was no damage to my house here in the City of Edgewater; just a bunch of debris in the yard, which a friend picked up for me. The generator kept running out of oil and stopping and I had to get someone to get it going again so it got very hot in the house a few times. That was not fun, but I count my blessings knowing many others were much worse off than we were.
Thanks to Mom who saw ahead a while ago and had the generator and tank with propane installed we got through rather unscathed. Even with the generator, it was one of the most difficult times of my life. Without her 11-7 caregiver who is a long time friend, I don’t know how I would have gotten through.
She stayed with us 24/7, except when she had to go to her job at a Port Orange Nursing Home, even when she got electric back at her house and we were still on generator power. She kept Mom clean and dry with bed sheets changed as often as possible since we couldn’t do laundry. Then when we had so much laundry to do she took it all to her house washed, dried, and folded it all and brought it back. She has been a Godsend.
Since just before the hurricane I got the results of my MRI which said I had a tear in my achilles tendon and was not walking well at all so her help was not just appreciated, it was necessary. It is in times like these that you find out who your true friends are.
I hope everyone is finally getting back to normal by now and didn’t have much damage to their homes during Hurricane Irma. I truly don’t know if I can go through this again, but evacuating with Mom was not possible. If we move her much at all it hurts her so no way we could get her into a car for a long bumpy ride somewhere.
I hope everyone is finally getting back to normal by now and didn’t have much damage to their homes during Hurricane Irma. I truly don’t know if I can go through this again, but evacuating with Mom was not possible. If we move her much at all it hurts her so no way we could get her into a car for a long bumpy ride somewhere.
Between the hurricane mess in Houston and ours in Florida with Irma, one thing came from it all that was good: Instead of fighting over stupid things which had become the norm just before the hurricanes, we saw neighbors helping neighbors, all races and creeds helping each other and other states coming to our rescue with supplies, electric workers and so much more. It was joyful to see that amidst the devastation. I was also heartened to see that we learned from Katrina that people’s animals are as important to them as their children so they were being rescued along with their owners.
I am so proud of us as a people for all the coming together. Now if we just keep it up and don’t go back to the hatred and dissension we had before the hurricanes we will be a better country.