The summer months in the southeastern US are hot and humid, and they also bring the trepidation of potential hurricane activity.
We were fortunate for several years to not have active hurricane seasons, but this past summer has seen hit after hit from hurricanes in our surrounding area.
Tensions have been extremely high in our community, since we never know where the next storm will make landfall. Watching the extensive damage to other areas create an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty, and while we all prepare to the best of our abilities, you still never know what might happen. About a month ago, our area was unfortunate enough to experience a direct hit from a major hurricane. One of the most difficult parts of going through a hurricane is the loss of power and our only way of staying comfortable in the heat; air conditioning. While some people have generators, our family did not, and we had to deal with a week without power and a way to cool our home. My mother lives with us, and she has to stay comfortable and cool in order to manage her health, and I was left without a way to help her. We had a few battery powered fans that minimally helped, but nothing could replace the ease of a central air conditioning system. In order to stay relatively cool, we would take short trips to the few grocery stores that had power restored to them. Even walking around the aisles that had wonderfully cold air conditioning streaming through them was enough to retain our sanity during this trying time. This really taught us how dependent we are on the comfort of having air conditioning, and how much we take having access to cool air for granted.