We were lucky. For about 48 hours it looked like a Cat 4 Hurricane Irma was going to roar ashore right over my house. In less than one year, we evacuated for a second time. This was the first time I made sandbags and propped them up around my doors.

We had first planned to go to middle Georgia but as Irma’s size grew, we realized that wouldn’t be far enough.

From the mountains of Tennessee, we watched as Irma flattened Caribbean islands and shifted west. It looked like our home would be mostly alright but that meant someone else’s wouldn’t. We were lucky.

After a few days in a hotel, with other relatives, we were allowed to return. The drive took twice as long as usual. My family’s home, a few miles south and on a barrier island. They weren’t able to return and stayed with us for a few days. Still, we were lucky.

Hurricane Brain is real. The stress of finding a place to stay, of not knowing when you will be able to come home, or what you will find when you get there, of making sure other family and friends are prepared also. Then trying to keep yourself busy while stranded in a random place, staying distracted. Trying to remember what day it is, or not.

Just that is exhausting. I can’t imagine if we had real damage, or if we couldn’t have afforded to evacuate at all.

And there are so many terrible storms swirling out there, waiting to shred people’s lives. It’s a level of stress that truly affect one’s ability to think in any deep way.

My mind is slowly coming back online. Hopefully I will be able to do some real reading and reviewing this weekend. I am lucky.