Who brought the chili?

“Someone brought chili.

Of all the things to bring to a hurricane shelter someone brought a crockpot of chili. 

It was delicious.

We went to the shelter the morning the hurricane hit. There were about 30 of us.

As the storm got closer the windows blew out.

A dad and son got cut up pretty badly.

The rain started coming and the fire alarms were going off.

The roof ripped off and the glass dome in the atrium lifted up.

We all huddled into the stairwell. Me, my mom, my two sisters, my daughter, my boyfriend and 25 other strangers.

It started to get hot standing in the crowded stairwell.

My boyfriend and I took my sisters and my daughter to a janitor’s closet on the first floor.

My sisters hadn’t slept well the night before we so laid blankets down and they went to sleep.

They slept through the whole hurricane.

To pass the time my boyfriend and I talked and tried to keep my daughter preoccupied.

At the time we assumed his home (a camper) would be long gone. I told him he could stay with me for a while if he needed to.

We watched trees through the large window get snapped in half. We speculated about what type of damage the hurricane would cause throughout town.

We didn’t think it would turn out to be as bad as it did.

My boyfriend works doing drywall and we joked, trying to lighten the mood, that after all this was over, he would have a lot more business.

My daughter danced and sang Ring around the Rosie over and over again while we watched the rain pour in.

She is afraid of water now. It’s a battle to get her to take a bath.

She cries in her sleep but she is getting better though.

My apartment flooded. It’s now covered in mold.

We can’t live there until its fixed so we have been staying with family and friends.

A few weeks here, a few weeks there.

I am in an “okay” spot because I had savings.

I am also on a scholarship. I should graduate in two years.

I want to open up a Dunkin Donuts franchise.

Right now, I am focused on making sure the necessities are covered. I am making sure holiday’s and my daughter’s birthday feel as normal as possible.

I am also focused on keeping my grades up so I can keep my scholarships.

Before the hurricane there were things I thought were important.

After the hurricane you realize they are actually not that important at all.

The future is looking positive.

It’ll just take some time to feel normal again, but we’ll make it out on the other side just fine.”