Well, I am now in Plantation, Florida, just outside of Ft. Lauderdale. The drive down here yesterday was pleasant, but I was concerned as there is a hurricane hitting nearby that could have hit here.
I talked with a few friends while traveling down here yesterday. Each one told me the same thing… “You’re going the wrong way.” It was a hard decision to come down for class with a hurricane heading toward Florida. (In fact, this has been the fourth one to hit the state this year, certainly a record.) The track predicted by all the weather services showed it heading into the Vero Beach / Ft. Pierce area, then turning north and walking up the coast and going through Jacksonville.
I really didn’t feel like it was truly going to hit Jacksonville, and I really didn’t feel that my family or myself were in any danger. The last thing I wanted to do was give in to the panic around me. Hurricane Jeanne had initially moved westward toward Florida, but then turned north, and then east, and then south, and then back west again. (I guess it was winding up for the pitch.)
I had gotten a call on my cell phone from Alice, the Lomi Lomi teacher at about 2:30 yesterday asking if I was on the road yet. She was concerned and was thinking that it might be better if I didn‘t come, and take the class at the next offering. That might have been the smarter idea if I continued to worry about the storm coming. But at that moment, I was 20 minutes form the hotel. I had left early to make sure I got there, and to meet a friend that I have been talking to for over a year, and never met face to face.
During the class today, Alice’s assistant, Bernadette, kept going out of the room to check on the progress of the hurricane. It was wobbling a bit, and could have come to Ft. Lauderdale rather than going north. She kept Alice on track with “Let’s go. There’s a hurricane coming.” J
As I mentioned, I met my friend, Jessica, last night. She took me out to dinner, and I taught her some things that she was looking forward to learning. As it turned out, her condo is only about a mile form the hotel I’m staying at. This morning, she went to her dad’s in Miami to ride out the storm.
The hotel said that people were coming there during the last hurricane as it was a safe place to be. Plantation is inland a ways. (The storm ended up hitting Port St. Lucie, about an hour or so to the north. It then walked across to Orlando and Tampa before turning north and going up the west side of the state. Jacksonville got some wind, and my wife lost power for about three hours. Other than that there was little damage at home.)
One of the students in the class had been evacuated from her home, and was looking to see if any of the female students had an extra bed or couch that she could use. Since her last query came up with nothing, I told her that there was a pullout couch in my room and she was welcome to stay there if she was comfortable with the idea. She was, and even paid me for half of the room, which was nothing I expected nor required. It was however, very nice. It was also nice having company while stuck in the room watching boring television.
We did go out to a restaurant for dinner right after class was over. Out of the 15 (give or take) restaurants in the area, only one was open. So we had a nice dinner there, even though the power went off seven times.
Later, since my legs were giving me problems, she worked on me for a few minutes using techniques from the St. John’s style of massage. Whatever she did worked, and I was able to sleep through the night. (I guess I’ll have to look up this style of massage someday.)
All in all, it has been an interesting couple of days.