Lost in Florida

Personal Blog

Categories: Prison, This American Life

Birthday

Because it’s my birthday and it’s the first time I’m around for it and it’s also visit day, Alan had planned many things to treat me. But it’s prison, things never go the way you’d like them to.

We took a couple of pictures first, but the sergeant decided we had to retake the good one because I was behind him… He is not allowed to be behind me, and we take the same picture almost every week, whatever. Disappointed because I look good on like 1 picture on 55 there, I still take it with a smile, and we pose again, being careful to stay next to each other. Alan loves the new pic, we don’t lose.

He wants to cook for me and to make me a cake. Canteen is out of almost everything, he can’t make a cake but what he cooks is big for two and I don’t need a cake 😊. He is just too adorable and I’m happy.

He smiles at me because “you look so cute” and says he wants to take me home. “I am home ☺”. He is home.

He has a few gifts he made and I received a portrait of me this week. He really doesn’t have to try that hard but I love the messages he puts in everything. I feel spoiled.

We talk about my favorite movie and he listens to my stories about Gus Van Sant for a long time and he is genuinely interested and I want to marry that man again.

We talk about trypophobia 🤢 and he keeps taking the skin 😱 as an example and I think marrying him once was enough.

We get up to warm some water and he kisses me. He gets in trouble. Being yelled at is not nice but he is more upset because the officer says something like “you’ve been doing stuff all day” when we literally only have been looking at each other and talking, up to now. I see Alan is very frustrated and I see the anger coming up. He is not saying anything but his eyes become red and I know he’ll cry in a minute. I hold his hand and ask him what is bothering him that much. He doesn’t want/can’t reply, I’d like to know so I could ease the pain before it bursts out… Too late, he whispers “because that’s our life” and he breaks down. I want to get closer and put my hand on his face or my arm around it – as I usually do when that happens, but I feel the officer watching and I don’t want us to get in more trouble so I have to painfully watch him cry 💔. I try to wipe his tears, while fighting my own. He says he is supposed to be the strong one, I call bullshit on that, everybody knows I’m the strong one 😆. He calms down but the tears won’t stop, we laugh about it. He says “I wish you had a better birthday”. I’d spend my day crying with him, it would still be better than any other day.

We move on to another subject, I get one more gift, and it’s already time to say goodbye. I can hug him, finally.

I go home and look at my phone, see many birthday messages from my friends overseas, a cute video of my niece (whom I miss a lot), and a message from one of my ex pen pals (out and free now) that says “Happy birthday to a friend who was always there for me”… and now I’m the one crying.

My in-laws then take me out for dinner, I’m full for a week and birthday girl gets a free cheesecake. Not the dessert I wish I could bring back to the house though 😉.

I’m simply happy I could see Alan after 3 weeks. I wish I didn’t make his life harder but I feel very loved and it’s amazing ❤.

Categories: This American Life

Hurricane Irma

Unfortunately, in Florida, there is a hurricane season. It lasts from June 1 to November 30, and everyone here is used to it. So used to it that Floridians do not take threats too seriously unless one speaks at least of a category 4 hurricane.

Florida and Jacksonville were hit by Hurricane Matthew last year, and while some are barely getting to the end of their reconstruction, Irma arrives. Hurricane category 5 when in the islands, Irma falls back to a category 4 hurricane before hitting the south of Florida, but being 500 km wide, impossible to escape it.

We are lucky not to be in an evacuation zone, so we are mainly preparing for days without power and/or stuck home.

The watchword: get prepared and stock up.

  • Flashlights, batteries, cans of food (and a manual can opener), snacks, plenty of water and drinks.
  • Fill the tub with water to continue flushing the toilet. Have enough toilet paper, as well as wipes and dry shampoo (life saver).
  • Charge tablets, laptops, e-readers, portable game consoles, mp3 or anything else that will keep you busy a little bit, and especially mobile phones. Get a radio that works with batteries to keep abreast of events.
  • Renew your prescriptions/check that you have enough medicines to go through a week.
  • Scan important documents and send them to yourself by email.
  • Take pictures of all the rooms of the house and valuable possessions.
  • Cut the sick trees on your property because they will not resist, and insurance will not pay for the damage they will do on your house!
  • Fill up your car with gas in advance (because the pumps are quickly empty!), in case of a last-minute evacuation order.
  • With a bag ready for the same reason.
  • Write a love letter, BECAUSE WE NEVER KNOW.

On Sunday evening, a little before 9 pm, we lost power at home. Since I have a fair fear of wind that goes back to childhood, I really had to reason and above all to occupy myself, to think about something else. In the light of my MacBook, I finished what I was doing when the power break occurred, and I went to bed. I managed to fall asleep but the violence of the wind woke me up at around 3 am, and I could not go back to sleep. I remained lying down in bed, but with my headphones on  and music loud and cheerful enough to cover the noise to a maximum. It was more effective than I thought, and I stayed calm. I even ended up sleeping an hour or two around 6 am.

The next day – and the following days, we checked out the damages. Mainly fallen trees in our neighborhood, and power and cables lines on the ground. A few streets away, the houses were flooded. Apart from a bump on the roof of the patio due to a big fallen branch, we had no damage to be deplored! We stayed for 5 days without electricity, while the city was trying to resume its normal course. Schools and government buildings, as well as a lot of restaurants, shops etc. stayed closed. Many companies have had to wait several days to recover power as well. There was however a good organization regarding the re-stock of food stores, completely cleaned out before the hurricane. Some areas of the city, on the other hand, will need more time to rise up.

 

Photo/WOKV

Photo/NBC News

Photo/Dede Smith / The Florida Times-Union

Photo/CBS News

 

And this impressive picture of St. Johns County:

Photo/St. Johns County Fire Rescue

 

Add NewCard Alan painted and sent me right before the hurricane 😅

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