Grape Flavors & Hurricanes

Seventeen years ago my family and I were living in Ft. Lauderdale. Moving from Detroit to Florida was a pretty big change for a lot of reasons.

During our short 1 ½ year stay in Florida, thankfully we encountered very few Hurricanes. In fact, there was only one that threatening bad enough to “fill the bathtub, and prep for disaster”.

Mom, Britt and I were up at Torch Lake, and Dad was left to literally “hold the fort down”. So he did what everyone else in the area was doing—head to Publix, get cupboard essentials, and hunker down. One of those “essentials” happened to be grape jelly. I don’t think mom ever bought grape jelly. Ever. And it was a giant Costco size jar. Now I’m not sure whether I was the last jar on the shelf, or weather Dad has a secret love for grape jelly. Thankfully the hurricane in 1994 didn’t do much damage to our area, and thus we had the grape jelly in the cupboard for years, I mean years. We moved it to Cincinnati.

It’s become quite a joke in our family.

I was in communication quite a lot with my parents this weekend. My dad was telling me the essentials to grab, have ready, things to do, all that jazz—jokingly telling me the most important thing to have for a hurricane is grape jelly. Thankfully Burlington was “reactively” unharmed, random trees down, scattered power out. Southern Vermont just needs our prayers, in the words of our Governor “we’re gonna be digging out for a while”

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from here Vermonters know how to help one another. This morning when I was listening to the radio, like a 75 year old woman, Fireside Chat style, our Governor said “Today is a day to be extraordinarily prudent. Reach out to your most vulnerable neighbors as we do in Vermont, but other than that, if you’re in a vulnerable area, lay low.”

There’s been so much damage from the floodwaters, homes collapsed, whole cities, completely flooded, cars & their passengers, farms, covered bridges washed away. Gone.

I woke up this morning to a gorgeous sunrise, so strange how today and Saturday were perfect VT summer days and Sunday was the opposite. I was thankful, but still so mindful; of those in the rest of my state that need support. As I was walking out the door to work, I remembered in my fury of selecting food from the market before the hurricane was to come, I happened to grab a bottle of grape juice, not even making the connection till this morning....