I’m lucky enough to live in San Antonio, where we rarely see really bad weather. Unlike my family who live in Houston, I’ve never been without power for more than a week; I’ve never wondered if hurricane force winds will blow my roof off; I’ve also never had to look at my home and wonder where I should start cleaning up first.
For the last week, News 4 has shown you the devastation, the mess and the heartbreak Hurricane Ike has caused. This past weekend my husband and I had my stepsons. We were supposed to have them the previous weekend, but Hurricane Ike made that impossible.
They live with their mom and stepdad on the north side of Houston and have been out of school since Ike hit. Like many of you, I’ve heard adult accounts of what the storm sounded and felt like. So I wanted to know what two little kids thought I was like.
First off, I asked them what it sounded like.
The oldest, who’s nine, said it was louder than a big plane going overhead. He said he had to cover his ears, but he could still hear the winds.
The youngest, who will be six in a few days, said it was the loudest thing he’d ever heard; that it was like Godzilla was outside his house. (He has a HUGE Godzilla infatuation, and we’ve seen many movies, so I knew what he was talking about.)
Then, I asked them what it looked like. They both said it was real dark. There wasn’t any elaboration, just dark, dark, and more dark.
When I asked if they were scared, I didn’t get the answers I was expecting.
The 9-year-old said he was scared. He didn’t like all the noise and the whole thing was "very scary."
The soon-to-be 6-year-old told me, very matter-of-factly, that he wasn’t scared. I had expected him to say it was scary, simply because he’s the same child who normally gets frightened by things. I asked him if he was worried something would happen and he said no. He was with his mommy and he knew he’d see his daddy real soon.
Then I asked him if he wanted another hurricane to hit. He shook his head. He told me that he didn’t like hurricanes because they took too long.
So, just like him, I hope we don’t get another storm any time soon, and I hope that the recovery time from Ike doesn’t take too long.
