Return to Houston

(I wrote this a few days back. I evacuated for the hurricane and got stranded in Arkansas at my parent's house for two weeks. Alhumdulillah, we are now home in Houston, with power, but I think the water is not so drinkable.

Oh, and today is my birthday, but I'm not really paying to much attention. I've already turned 26 a few times.)

Bismillah hir Rahman nir Rahim...
My husband and I decided not to stay in Houston with the possibility of no electricity or water because we have the baby. I tend to bail when the Weather Channel talks about "certain death." So we came to Arkansas to stay with my parents. It was nothing like evacuating for Rita, the roads were empty (it was early AM Friday when we left.) We stayed up all night watching it hit Galveston. I was in shock the next morning when I saw what all it had done.

And then Saturday night the hurricane passed thru Arkansas, and we had some very strong winds. This area is still wet from Gustav a week before and with the strong winds from Ike, one of the huge pine trees in our yard fell onto our house! Right in the middle. I was actually walking into the very room it landed on, if I had not stepped into the bathroom to put something away for that brief second I would have been buried under the ceiling, rafters, and insulation. The tree itself did not reach all the way to the ground, it had a rotted spot in the middle and there is a wall right in the middle of the house and it snapped the tree in half. The roof literally caved in at my feet. The top half of the tree crashed thru the sun porch on the back of the house.

I had no idea what it was, it happened so fast. I heard a loud boom and had just enough time to think to myself that it was not thunder, when I heard a second crash and felt the house shaking. I thought we had been struck by lightening! I just screamed and went running to find my baby.

Alhumdulillah, we were all unhurt. I actually didn't remember half of what happened, I think my mind blocked it out, and I started remember bits and pieces over the next two days. It's just, you never know when or where it could happen, you think you are going to be safe in your house, away from all the windows like they always preach to you during storms, or you think you are evacuating from a hurricane to be safe, and then a tree falls on you.

I learned a few things, like, I can run faster than a tree can fall, always put your stuff up where it belongs, and you can not escape harm or death if that is what Allah has ordained for you.