The Aftermath of Storms, and Metaphors

I was drum major of our marching band when I was in high school. Marching band was my life. All of my friends were in the band and the band room was where I spent all my free time. During the fall, we competed in band competitions. I was never nervous leading up to our performance. Instead, I was always excited and trying to pump everyone up. But once our performance was over, I became an anxious wreck. At that point, I no longer had any say or control over how our performance would go. It was done and out of our hands. While everyone else would breathe a sigh of relief, “yay, its over! Now we can relax!”, I would work myself up into a mess while waiting for our results. I’ve had the same experiences while waiting for a jury to come back after a trial. Once I’ve given my closing argument and sat down, that’s when the nerves start.

Niece Luci with Rigsbee, the gentle giant. These 2 became best friends this week.

I’m not sure why I expected this experience to be any different. We finished with everything we were going to do with the house by about 3pm last Sunday. Chris and I had worked non-stop for about 6 weeks. My sister, Lillie, and my Mom came last Thursday, 7/30. Dad came Friday evening. We worked all day Friday and Saturday. By Sunday, we were all beyond exhausted. I had grouted everything I could find. Chris had caulked anything that didn’t move. I had given my Dad the seemingly simple task of replacing the air vent covers in the upstairs, yet it took him hours because of crumbling plaster. But finally, FINALLY, we finished everything, cleaned up, Lillie took photos for our realtor, and we headed east, to the beach.

I had been thinking about the beach for weeks, knowing it was the finish line. But as we pulled away from the house and Chris said, “yay! It’s over!”, I felt my nerves start. I obsessively watched my phone and the app I had downloaded that our realtor had given us access to that let us monitor our showings and feedback.

Me, niece Adeline, and sister Lillie.

By Monday, I was a wreck. I was not focused at all on Hurricane Isaias, which was headed straight for us. Instead, all of my thoughts were focused on our house and how it was showing and when we would receive our first offer. The rest of my family kept track of the storm and we were pretty sure it would be mild. At dinner, we were all enjoying watching the storm. At 10pm, Chris went up to our room saying he wasn’t feeling great. The storm picked up and the rest of us went out on the deck to feel the wind. I bounced between checking on the storm and checking on Chris, but both got incrementally worse. By midnight, Chris was in a lot of pain and we were in awe of the storm. By 1am, the storm was a little scary and Chris was in agonizing pain. I called an ambulance and they said they weren’t sending out any emergency vehicles until the wind died down. By 2am, I made the decision to try to get him to the hospital ourselves.

So Dad, Lillie, Chris and I took off just after 2am to try to get Chris to the hospital. It took over an hour (normally a 30 minute drive), but we eventually made it with just a few detours around downed trees and power lines. We got Chris inside but I couldn’t stay with him because of Covid, which in all the insanity of the hurricane and Chris’ pain, I had completely forgotten about. So we left and went back home and waited for an update. Chris called about 3 hours later, after he had a CT scan and an ultrasound. While there was no definitive diagnosis, it looks like he had a gallstone or gall bladder attack that had already passed before the CT scan (his pain had started to go down the last 20 mins or so of the drive).

The front of the house on Tuesday morning. We lost some siding, some paint, and some roofing shingles.

All in all, besides a scary night, the damage for us was minimal. There is some missing roofing and siding off the house and Chris was tired and sore for a few days, but nothing permanent.

A layer of sand covered absolutely everything.

The rest of the week has been blessedly uneventful. While there has been lots of family, sun, and sand, there have been no more scary storms and no more emergency rooms. Back home, we’ve had at least 10 showings of the house, but no offers yet.

Katy (my parents’ dog) and Rigsbee, navigating at the front of the boat.

So tomorrow (Sunday) we head back to Durham, but only briefly. We will pick up some more stuff that we need at the house, and then Chris will head to the mountains and I will head to a friend’s house. We’ll stay in those respective places until we are under contract on the house. I am starting to let go and know that we’ve done all we can do. It’s not a process I enjoy or appreciate, but there’s not many other options right now. All I can do now, just as in high school band competitions, is wait for the results.