Her First Hurricane

Four years ago, we took our daughter to college for her freshman year, a school in a little town in southeastern Louisiana, about 45 minutes from New Orleans. Eight hours by car–only she didn’t have a car. The only thing that made us nervous was weather. After all, it was then only three years since Katrina, and our daughter had seen than devastation first hand on a mission trip just six months after it hit.

In spite of our worry, no hurricanes came near.

Until now.

The minute they started talking about Isaac and New Orleans, we got nervous. She’s not on campus any more, but in an apartment. And she has a car, on which we only carry the basic liability insurance. And we knew she knew nothing about how to prepare for what was coming.

Thankfully, the Lord has blessed her with great friends. They invited her into their families’ homes, told her to gas up her car and buy some water. But in the end, when her college cancelled classes for the week, she hopped in her car and came home.

It’s so nice to not worry about her under 80 mph winds with no electricity and possible flooding. And it’s nice to see her for more than 48 hours, which is all we got to see her this summer. In fact, due to a complicated series of events, she and I had a entire day together yesterday–a day without me worried I had to work and without brothers or father around. I honestly don’t know how long it’s been since we’ve had a day like that! It was an absolute gift!

So she escaped her first hurricane, and no matter how mild or destructive it turns out to be, we’re glad we got some unexpected time with our baby girl.