hurricane season 2

As I sit here with the rest of the country, or at least the East Coast, watching the coverage on Hurricane Irene, I have mixed emotions.  First off, I'm very glad that I am well inland and don't have to worry about evacuating and getting the dogs and myself to safety (like we did last year).  Where I lived just a month ago (and would still be living now if it wasn't for my parents taking me in) has been evacuated again.  If you have been watching the news, any mention of Atlantic Beach, that's right where we lived.  Emerald Isle and Atlantic Beach share the same island.  And the eye of the storm made landfall a mere 35 miles from our old house.  If you haven't been watching the news, here's a taste of what our little island is going through:

Which brings me to my next emotion, concern.  Looking at all of the damage that our area is going through, I worry about all of our friends that are still there.  I hope you are all okay!  I also can't help thinking about everything we own sitting in a storage unit there.  I find myself thinking we should have definitely upped our personal property insurance policy.  Only time will tell if we will need to be using said policy.  

Lastly I am just sad.  Seeing the beating that the island is taking truly breaks my heart.  Even though I moved away a month ago due to Pat's deployment, it still feels so much like home.  It is where we lived for the entire time we've been married, and it's the place that we have lived the longest since Patrick has been in the Marine Corps (a whole year!) as opposed to the other 1, 3 and 6 month stints we've had along the way.  When I think of home I think of Emerald Isle now, and it's washing away... The saddest news has been that the pier where we would take walks and Patrick loved to fish from has collapsed.

Apparently now that the storm has 'passed', as you can see from the video, she's not done yet.  I pray for everyone that has already experienced Irene, and those that have yet to, that you are all safe and sound, and don't have too much damage to deal with.