I saunter up to the check out in the supermarket with my sunshine smile and happy messages of hope and gratitude spilling all over the cashier and she says “Today is a terrible day!” I ask why and she tells me that it’s that time of the month. “Be grateful your equipment and everything else is working! You didn’t start your heart yourself this morning, did you?” “No” she
says. “It was a free gift from the Boss!” I giggle. She smiles and says “I have
a friend just like you, always positive.” “It’s a beautiful day every day; you
just have to take the paper bag off your head sometimes to see it!”
She sees my three cases of water and asks, “Are you getting ready for the storm?” An optimist chooses to be oblivious of all storms until a pair of boots is required. Even standing in a room full of manure you hear, “There’s a pony in here somewhere!”
“What storm?” I line my groceries up on the conveyer belt immediately accessing what will melt if we have no electricity. I am suddenly grateful I stopped eating meat last month after returning from Africa and convince myself that except for the Talenti Pistachio Gelato there are mostly fruits and vegetables and they won’t spoil. I ignore the obvious that the ten kinds of cheese I bought will go bad if we do loose power from a storm.
A hurricane is on the way and her name is Irene. I had an Aunt Irene who loved to drink beer and do the “Dance of the Seven Veils” while her sisters cleaned the house. I am hoping that this Irene dances over southern Florida quickly as I have a speaking engagement on the west coast in Naples
this weekend and don’t want to miss it. I traveled once in terror over
Alligator Alley, the highway that connects the east side of Florida to the west
with 100 mile road lined with alligators and no exits. I hadn’t known that time
a hurricane was on the way. I casually got in the car and wound up driving in a white out for 4 hours on what is normally an hour and a half trip, praying like I was a saint hoping for beatification! I don’t want to ever do that again!
So because of the special sale, I have three cases of water and am prepared not to die of dehydration should the world as we know it end on Thursday. Irene, I’ve got my eye on you! I have met some of your sisters and I was not impressed!!!!