G is for Gloria

This is what a hurricane looks like to me. I am a resident of the northeast where we do not get many hurricanes. The last one I remember actually hitting someplace that I lived was Hurricane Gloria back in 1985. I was five years old. My mom did stock up on water an candles and etc... and warned me to stay away from windows (many trees in our yard) and not to take a bath. She said that we might have to go into the basement if it got really windy because somethign might fly through one of the windows if it got very windy. My most imprinted memory is of my mom lighting a bunch of candles in my room and of us sitting in my bedroom and it got kind of quieter outside and she said that this was the eye of the storm and we shouldn't be fooled into thinking it was over. (no electricity = no nightlight). I wasn't too scared or anything. When I did venture near a window and peeked outside I just saw lots of wind and rain. Nothing spectacular, no flying cows. I think I was more bored than anything because the electricity eventually went out leaving me with no TV. Reading by candlelight is really annoying. There was nothing else to do but go to bed.

The next day she spoke to her parents, who lived about two miles away, and found out about The Tree. There was a massive weeping willow treewith a big, solid trunk in the center of their front yard. I loved that tree. I used to climb up onto the lower branches and play happily with the long, wispy outer ones. Well, the tree had crashed across their driveway. I can't remember if it crushed the one car that was in the driveway or not (neither does my mom). But who could really see what was under all of those willow branches? It was one of the most amazing things I'd seen in my five years of life. This huge thing that I viewed as permanent and solid had been knocked over by this thing called a hurricane. And The Tree had knocked down the power line across from my their house and I wasn't to go anywhere near it or I might get electrocuted. I was now much more impressed by Gloria's strength.