Friday: Day Two

05:35 - My cell phone rang.

05:38 - My cell phone rang again.

05:49 - The third time my cell phone rang, I answered it. It was one of my friends who stayed behind. She said the storm was coming and that we should head out right now. I went back to sleep.

06:30 - I woke back up and crawled off the couch. My parents were already wide awake. I asked my Dad what the verdit was. He wanted to leave, but my Mom wanted to stay. So we decided to stay. At my parent's house. With a hurricane heading for us. [At this point the hurricane was still scheduled to make land fall near Galveston.] My Dad didn't want to chance being stuck in more traffic on the freeway like yesterday.

09:00 - My Aunt and Uncle called from Florida. They were worried sick about us. They said they would charter a plane to fly us to Florida. What? A private plane? You're crazy.

09:24 - They called back. It would only be four thousand dollars. We couldn't let them do that. No way. We'll think about it.

09:32 - The plane for four thousand was only a four seater. We had six people, plus animals. The cost was now fourteen thousand. Oh hell no. Thanks for the offer. No way. We can't. My Aunt and Uncle insisted. They would wire the money. They would pay. They wanted us safe. No way. There's no way we wanted them to do that.

09:35 - My Dad announces to everyone: Pack ONE bag. That's all. One bag per person. We were going to catch the plane.

11:35 - We arrive at the private air terminal. The doors are locked. The manager comes to the door. "We're all shut down." We give him the plane number. Maybe he knows about a private plane coming in to get us. "That's not one of our planes. That number doesn't check out." We get on the phone with Aunt and Uncle. They make a few phone calls, and before you know it, we are sitting inside this fancy private air terminal and they are bringing us bottled water, cheese trays, and danishes.

12:31 - A plane taxis up to the door. "Is that ours?" I asked. "No, that plane is too big to be yours." Oh crap. What did we get ourselves into.

12:38 - Our plane arrives. It's a seven passenger prop plane. We climbed in and prayed. As the plane took off, I realized at that moment, I didn't want to die. I was such a bad flier, and I didn't even know it. It's been years since I had been in a plane. I can't even remember. I cried during take off. Half because I had been sick for two days and my brain felt like it was going to explode. Half because I didn't want to die.

15:10 - The plane ride was smooth. And the landing was smooth. I had never been so happy to be alive. I ran out and hugged my Aunt and Uncle, and everyone cried. They saved our lives.

Later that day and throughout the weekend, we would learn that Rita didn't hit Galveston. It barely hit Houston. I cringed every time I saw the news. I felt like they had wasted money on us. Like it would have been worth it if we lost our house, or atleast our cars.

We decided it was a vacation. We went to the beach. We went out to eat. We are going shopping today.

My work called and said the building was open today. I am supposed to be at work right now. We are returning Tuesday evening if all goes well with our connecting flight out of Dallas. One thing I didn't intend on losing in the hurricane was my job.