Preparaing...Anyway

 "This Hurricane was not giving," lamenting my teen daughter as she was snuggling in her bed this Sunday morning

"Are you sure?" I asked

"yep."

"Well, better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it, " I replied

So began our discussion after I emerged from Zoom/phone church where I worship at First and Summerfield United Methodist Church.  

I forecast.

I anticipate.

I warn.

I prepare.

I wait.

It is superpower, it is maybe annoying.

Every big pot is filled with water. I live in the woods and we have a well and if we lose electricity, we won't be able to have drinking water or flush the toilets or even bathe. I take two showers a day, that is such a first world privilege, but it is my thing, not being able to clean myself is one of the things I prepared for.

We have enough snacks for if all five kids were at home for the holidays and merging in and out of the kitchen. We have bottled water, sparking water, and I have lots of carafes on my dining table.

Ready.

We have non-perishable-foods and with a gas stove, could still cook. I Put four pots on the stove just for cooking, I have a bucket of water for doing dishes. My husband bought paper plates.

I did laundry.

I ironed all my clothes for the upcoming week, it is supposed to be one of my last vacations from the organization I still am affiliated with in Missouri. It is my daughter's last week before school. I wanted to get to Rhode Island and up to Vermont. 

My clothes are all ironed, it reminded me of when I was a young professional living in Chicago and had to be up at 5 o'clock in the morning to make my 6 o'clock bus to another bus to take my sons to their daycare and do the same thing in reverse to make it to the Loop by my 8:30am time at work. It became a habit for me on Sunday.

So, my clothes are all ironed, everything possible has been cleaned and washed so if we lose power, at least the bathrooms are cleaned.

Anticipate.

I tried to think ahead of what my family would need. We have the cars gased up. We have batteries. Ready.

Then, my daughter told us, "this hurricane was.not.giving."

I am smiling a bit.

It is raining this afternoon. The trees are swaying. It is windy and in parts of my state, 25,000 people are without power and trees have come down. There is flooding. In my neighborhood, so far no one has lost power. It is still on my street. In Rhode Island, there are 75,000 without power. 

So, Henri gave something.

Being in America, we are able to prepare, unlike my ancestral homeland in Haiti that has been hit with the earthquake and the aftereffects. There are care organizations going to help, some centering the voices of Haitians.

There are people fleeing or attempting to flee Afghanistan, understandably fearful of ignorant religious extremest terrorists who have taken over the country. Flashes of what could have happened here had January 6 delivered to them what they wanted.

I anticipate.

Much like the political climate we experienced after 2007.

But that is not what anyone wanted to hear. They couldn't feel the change in the breeze the same way I do.

Perhaps it is being rare, an INFJ - one deeply intuitive and watching the signs. One of my favorite Biblical prophets - Jeremiah - was probably the same. We have a group on IG, comparing our experiences and feeling like we are not so alone after all, even if we are only 3% of the entire world.

So, I prepare.

For what will come or what may come.

And in the end, it benefits those around me who I love, even if they look at me like I've lost a bit of my mind as I fill up buckets with water and calculate how many almonds can keep one full for a day.

It did give.

Reminding.

Renewing.

Reviewing.

What is important, what we focus on in a time of crisis, what matters most for us,

Even as we prepare for what we anticipate.

If it happens, we were ready.

Better yet if it doesn't, and we perfect our readiness for what will come for surely, it will come again.

Because that is also life.