Hurricane Matthew: My therapy post

It's weird. We were at school on that Tuesday (October 4) and I told my students that we were having Wacky Wednesday the next day and I was bringing a jar of pickles for all the students that had great behavior that day. I'm sure they had forgotten, but I didn't forget. I picked up a jar of pickles at Piggly Wiggly to take to school.

After school that Tuesday I was conferencing with our reading instructional coach when our administrator came on the intercom to tell us we didn't have school for the next three days. She and I discussed when we would evacuate because our husbands probably still had to work. My teammate brought me some papers to hand out as I was packing my bags. I left them lying on the table and said, "If the wind doesn't blow them away, then they will be sitting there when I get back." The rest of my team was like, "I don't know what to do. I feel scattered. Should I start planning for next week or just go ahead and leave?" One asked if it was premature to go ahead and get on the road tonight.

Joseph was supposed to have a father/son camp out on Friday and Saturday at the church. He organized the event and he questioned if he should cancel it. He sent me an email during the workday about making hotel reservations somewhere. I told him I would not be able to until after school so he said he would call some places. I told my team, my husband was handling the reservations and walked out of school about 3:30pm.

I needed to get the registration and stickers for our license plates from the DMV so I went straight there so that would be taken care of before we got on the road somewhere.

I called the dance studio and told them that Lincoln and Grey wouldn't be at lessons today. I went to pick up the kids from their school and already saw a line forming at the gas stations so I jumped in that line to fill the van up with gas. Turns out the governor had stated a mandatory evacuation for Wednesday at 3 o'clock. I picked up the kids from school and knew there school would also be closed because they follow the same weather cancellation as my school district.

My class had just researched severe weather- thunderstorms, hurricanes, and tornadoes. I told them about my 10th birthday September 22, 1989 when Hurricane Hugo passed closely by Beaufort and hit Charleston, SC. I told them that my parents didn't evacuate and I heard the storm in the middle of the night. I was sad because I wasn't sure if my birthday party was going to be cancelled. My students spent a lot of time researching that storm by watching news reports and looking at images on Google. Then as they are 9 and 10 years old, they were going to experience one for themselves. That is what we as teachers call a "real-world example" or a "teachable moment".

So later at home my husband and I told the kids we needed to talk without being interrupted. We asked them to play in their room so we could discuss evacuation plans- how far away to go or if to leave at all. We looked at maps of Georgia and South Carolina and started calling hotels in various cities- Augusta, Statesboro, Metter, Dublin, Warner Robbins.  Hotels were mostly booked. Some were vacant Wednesday and Thursday night, but not Friday and Saturday night.

I was lying in Grey's bunk bed until she fell asleep that night. I had Kids Worship on Pandora playing on my cell phone. I happened to see a facebook post by Swurfer on my newsfeed. This sounded like the answer-camping! I went to the Albino Skunk Music Festival webpage and looked at photos. It sounded perfect. Joseph contacted the organizers and asked about our camping fee being waived. We still would be required to buy the music fest tickets which were $130 a person for the 3-days. Lincoln was free. Grey was going to the Smoky Mountains for her train ride with my parents.

Facebook post by Swurfer

So we ended up going to the Albino Skunk Music Festival in Greer, SC. Despite the reason for being there, it was pretty amazing. I felt like I was at Woodstock or something. We had a campsite in an open field and there was a stage with performers back-to-back. It did rain one day and soaked the inside of our tent, but the other two days were beautiful. Lincoln made a friend who he played with during the day and then he listened to the music with us at night. When we arrived at the music festival, I noticed we had $80 in our bank account so we ate peanut butter and honey sandwiches out of the back of the van for several days. 

A photographer took Lincoln's picture playing with her albino skunk skin

A hippie bus for the kids to play in

The main stage

The bathroom and shower

Where we put tent for the festival

Lincoln dancing with his new friend, Arya

They were really fighting like superheros

Lincoln said, "Let me show you how to dance pretty."

Making lunch from the back of the van

Lincoln couldn't help not playing his guitar too

Living out of the van

The view in Greer, SC

A photographer took our photo

Just being a kid

So while we were there, a journalist heard we had evacuated to the festival so she asked to do a story on us. She came one day to interview us and the story was published in the local paper.  

My favorite band at the festival, Lil' Smokies, from Montana. 

So when the festival was over, we still couldn't return to Beaufort so we reunited with my parents and Grey in Cherokee, NC. We were out of money so my parents had to buy our hotel room and fill our van up with gas. We paid them back when we got back to Beaufort. 

Bamboo forest 

Sight seeing in Cherokee

Skipping rocks

When we returned home, there were 3 trees down in the yard and a lot of debris. A tree did fall on our shed, but all missed the house. School was cancelled for 8 days so it was a lot of time at home with the children. 

On Saturday, October 15 depression hit me as a heavy cloud sitting above my eyes. I found myself staring off for long periods of time, not communicating, having no expression, wishing my life was over. I knew the symptoms because I'd experienced them many times before.

Then I remembered one of the things that can trigger a stress response syndrome (adjustment disorder) was surviving a natural disaster. I tried looking up a lady in the church that I knew worked at Coastal Empire Mental Health, but I couldn't find her on Facebook.  

That same day, Joseph volunteered for the Storm Relief Clean-up Crew that our church participated in. While he was there working, I sent him a text telling him I wasn't doing well. Guess who was on his team? The director of Coastal Empire Mental Health! She gave him her phone number and told me to contact her. We arranged to meet at Starbucks that evening and talked for about an hour. I felt a little better. I saw her at church the next day and she checked up on me. I still had a fog over me and I just sat and observed that service and didn't talk to anyone.    

That Sunday afternoon I started returning back to normal and happy to be back to my regular routine at work again. I gave the students plenty of opportunities to reflect about their evacuation experience. 

So that Wednesday at church, one of the men in the men's group asked how the family and Rebekah was doing. Joseph said I was okay. The guy responded, "I saw a spirit of depression following Rebekah around at church on Sunday so I prayed for her." Wow! I do believe I was healed because of that man's discernment.

The draft for this post had been sitting around for almost a year and I never posted it. Now seems like an appropriate time. I found out over the weekend that there is another hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean. Prior to Hurricane Matthew, I was thrilled by the excitement of hurricane season; not knowing if school would be cancelled and secretly hoping it would cause us to evacuate. Now I gulp when I hear the word "hurricane" and "evacuation". I feel panicky and anxious at the thought of having to evacuate again. I feel like enough time hasn't passed. We still have damage from the last one. Of course, I get concerned that thoughts will resurface with uncertainty.

A tree uprooted and down in our backyard

Our tarp-walled shed

So I stumbled across someone in the church bathroom yesterday who was praying against the hurricane as she was peeing. We started talking about anxiety and medication and suicide and being free. It was one of those divine appointments where we were there to encourage one another. John 8:36 says: So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.  Currently, I have felt more at ease watching news updates. I know there are people praying for calm and peace in my spirit. 

The Albino Skunk Music Festival is October 5-7 and I hope I still get to go, just under different circumstances this time. 

RH