The day before it started, we were rushed and told to leave at 8:00 p.m; my mom told me to grab as much clothes as possible for a week. We put the clothes in the car we got in and left, not knowing where I was being taken. Once we got there, I didn't recognize the house. Then I was told it was sister Milvia's house (a member from church). I went inside, nervous, not knowing what could happen to my little home. My mom, Milvia, her family, and I all sat down as a bunch and watched the news. The weather girl said all kinds of things like "this might be worse than Hurricane Irene." I was no longer nervous, I was scared. I went to sleep trembling.
It's been days since the hurricane. We got a phone call saying we can go see our house on Wednesday. When we got there I saw boats parked in front of some of the homes. I kept walking to my house. I heard awful things like one of the houses didn't have a roof and I heard something else that got me worried, that a house in Cheryl Lane had exploded from the inside. I started thinking, could it be mine, could it be Yvette's, who's could it be?
I walked faster to my house, relieved it wasn't my house that exploded and thinking that nothing inside my house was destroyed either, but every thing inside the shack was destroyed. I ignored everything in the shack and I looked at the house next to mine; it was the house that had caught on fire and was destroyed from the inside. I started walking. I saw houses without a roof, a house without a fence, and some houses where everything was wet and soggy.
I went back to my house and took out the rotten food from the refrigerator. Once we finished I went outside to clean the street and everything that had washed up on our lawn. I looked for the broom and apparently the water took it so we went to Yvette's house and I saw people from the church we go to. They came just to help us. I was touched and felt loved knowing how these people care to come and help us in our situation. Some of them came to our house and helped us clean and some stayed to help Yvette. Once we were done we went and offered to clean the street and Tim's moms house. Once we finished and it was time to leave I started to feel sad leaving again not knowing when I was going to return home.
Since that day I learned to treasure everything I am given and love the people who care for us along the way.
