On October 11, 2024, a day or so after Hurricane Milton came through, my main thought was: when are we going to get power back on? We actually had no power all day yesterday, for the first time ever that I've been in St. Petersburg, Florida and didn't evacuate. This was the stretch right after the day after Hurricane Milton, with trees down and the house still standing. So I'm taking as much opportunity as I can to do stuff outside now — to clean things up, to move debris around, to cut off banana trees, and to get everything ready so that when the power does come back on, I'll be ready.
Living like it's end times while the family drives home
The wife and kids are coming home today, and they have miserable traffic to face. Meanwhile, I'm living like it's end times, just eating all this food at home. I did not even leave the house yesterday after I got back home, and I don't know if I'm going to even leave the house today either. All the stuff I usually do — like my yoga and AA meetings — I can't get to, and my phone isn't even getting data on it. So I have no idea what's open or what I can even do. So I'm just putting in work, cleaning the house up, and getting ready for the wife and kids to come home.
My mom's power comes back on, but not mine
What amazes me, after the wife and kids sit in traffic for five hours, is that somehow my mom's power comes on around 5 p.m. — even though she's just diagonally across the street from me, and I still have no power. So as soon as the wife and kids get home and my mom's power comes on, I call my mom up and ask: since she's staying another night in Orlando before she comes home, can we stay in her house since she now has air conditioning?
Right before her power came back on, I had thrown everything out of her fridge, as well as my own fridge, which took about an hour just to do by itself. It wouldn't have mattered if the power came back on — the stuff in her fridge, like all the ice cream, was already pretty far gone. She had so many of these drinks, like Starbucks drinks with milk in her fridge, that I poured out.
The bed argument with my daughter
When my mom's power comes back on, Laura is very enthusiastic to sleep over there with the kids, but my daughter starts getting in an argument with me about where she's going to sleep. I submit that I would like to sleep in my mom's queen bed with my wife in the bedroom, while Madeline and Jack can sleep wherever they want. I think Madeline, being nine years old, should sleep on my mom's couch, and Jack has his air mattress and could sleep in the bedroom with me. My mom says please don't use her bed, because it's got a bunch of stuff on it and she just left it like that.
So Madeline starts in this big fight, willing to go to town with me over whether she can sleep in the bed with my wife or not.
What's nice about being a grown-up is picking my battles
And I realized that I could win this argument. I could fine her five or ten dollars. I could punish her. I could try and bribe her. And I realized — you know what? What's nice about being a grown-up is being better at picking my battles. She really wants to sleep in the bed with Laura and have Jack in the room, and they'll just all sleep over there and be fine. Madeline says I should sleep on the couch, which is ridiculous — I know I'm going to get a crappy night's sleep if I sleep on the couch.
So I surrender, and I say: look, Madeline, go ahead, sleep in the bed with Laura. Even though Laura was gone a few days and I was trying to get some time in bed with just Laura — fine, whatever. We'll just wait till tomorrow. It's not a big deal. I'll miss out on my joy and my pleasure because you want to sleep in a bed with your mother. So go right ahead.
A better night's sleep after the storm
So I end up going back and sleeping in my own house again after taking the dogs for a nice walk. And I realized this might actually be nicer — I might get a better sleep than they will. I'll have my own space, and I can stay up later, because they're all going to bed a little after 8 p.m., maybe 8:30 or 9 by the time Laura finally gets them in bed. Laura's tired. The drive back from Orlando took her over five hours. It's amazing how little gas our hybrid used — it still has three-quarters of a tank after being full when she left and being on the road for five hours. Just getting food was difficult. And she's ready to go to bed early.
So I enjoy staying up, and I'm glad the shower and the sewer are on. I take a nice shower, take a long dog walk, and take some quality time to myself to read. Then I go to bed about 11, having had another really nice day after the storm. If you enjoy these everyday moments, you can watch my newest daily vlogs in my Life playlist.