$18

$18.

I had gotten an $18 quote for renters insurance exactly one month before the storm hit. But I never called back to finalize my enrollment.

One $18 payment and they would have covered all the things that were damaged. We lost a lot.

I kick myself everyday about that.

Unfortunately for us, our landlord also didn’t have any insurance on our rental property.

I lived with my boyfriend in a townhouse close to the water in St. Andrews.

I worked at Uncle Ernie’s. I made good money and was going to school.

I worked a double shift the Sunday before the hurricane hit. It was a holiday weekend and we were slammed all day.

We didn’t even realize there was a storm until we finished our shift that night. Even then, it was just a tropical storm.

I was here for Hurricane Opal. Like a lot of locals, we didn’t evacuate then either.

We lived in town. We weren’t under a mandatory evacuation order. We thought we were safe.

Two days before the storm, the city was chaos. Gas station lines went around the block. Most ran out by Monday afternoon.

I went to the store to pick up supplies and found many empty shelves.

You always see those people on the news hoarding supplies and buying what you think is way more than what they actually need. I didn’t want to be that person. Supplies were already scarce. So, I picked up only what I thought we needed.

We woke up early Wednesday morning and quickly realized we should have left. But it was too late. If we left now, there was the fear we would be stuck out on the open roads when the storm hit.

I’ll never forget the last conversation I had with my Mom. She asked if we would come stay with her at her home in Forest Park. She was afraid we would fall victim to the storm surge. I told her we were going to stay put. The storm had already begun to make landfall.

She then told me in all seriousness, “Ok, write your social security number on your arm with a sharpie in case they need to identify your body.”

My boyfriend, his mom and brother and I all hunkered down in our townhouse. We cooked our last meal on the stove and enjoyed our last moments of cable television before we lost power.

Our fence blew down within the first 30 minutes.The plywood we used to board up the windows was gone shortly after that. Almost every tree in our backyard was down within the first hour.

We moved from room to room trying to stay safe. First the living room, then the staircase, and finally settling in our downstairs bedroom. We all felt safest there.

We pulled the mattress off the bed and put it against the window for extra protection. The shingles were slowly ripping off the roof. Water started pouring in through the light fixture.

We grabbed pans, bowls, and anything we could to collect the water that was now pouring in from all different parts of the ceiling. It was useless. The ceiling finally collapsed over us from the weight of the water.

We retreated back to the living room. It was the longest three hours of my life. We didn’t talk much. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts.

I looked down at my stomach. Our baby was in there. I needed to stay safe.

During the middle of the storm we somehow got a phone call from my sister. She had evacuated to Georgia and was watching the hurricane coverage live. The eye was just a couple of miles from shore and Mexico Beach had already been wiped out.

She had called our mom. Her roof had blown off and they were physically holding the front door shut. I felt so helpless. I burst into tears.

After it was over, we went outside. It was like a bombing in our hometown. All of our car windows had blown out. My boyfriend’s truck was flooded with water. Once we drained it, we got it started and drove around. It was a sight I will never forget.

It was so hot in the days after the storm. We were sweaty and didn’t shower for five days. We under prepared. We used up all of our supplies in the first three days.

We ended up driving to a friend’s house in Panama City Beach to get a shower and a hot meal. It was like a whole different world.

We are trying to stay positive and find things to celebrate. My entire family was in town for Thanksgiving so we hosted a gender reveal party.

When I popped the balloon, I was expecting blue or pink confetti. Instead rhinestones came out of the balloon.

My boyfriend was down on one knee with a ring asking me to marry him. It was a happy day in the midst of all of this chaos. We eventually popped the real balloon and blue confetti littered the ground. It’s a boy, due in May.

We are currently in the market to buy a house but we have to be patient.

My only wish is that we find a home to buy or find our own place to rent before the baby is born in May.