In the end, my home did make it out intact.  We had roof damage, two trees uprooted, and lost part of our fence.  When you look down my street and around the neighborhood, our loss was quite minimal.  Many houses have trees that tore gaping holes in the roof and we saw many homes with roofs that caved in entirely.

During the storm, as I saw each shingle fly off, I thought about that blasted hurricane deductible and I thought about how having to buy a new roof I wasn’t intending on replacing.  Of course we are fortunate that we can afford it, but it annoyed me that I might have to put other goals on the back burner for a while. 

Today, 6 days after the storm, my home is still without electricity.  We had to move temporarily to my in-laws, who have electricity.  It is estimated that it will take 3 weeks from now (4 weeks total) before my neighborhood has power.  Our area in town resembles a third-world country.  Long lines outside grocery stores, rationing of grocercies and gas, lines a mile long to get gas.  My husband has been working 12 hour shifts since the week before the storm, and got his very first day off in two weeks yesterday.  Today, Sunday, he is back at work.  Now all I can think about is having him here with me.  The deductible and the roof seem like distant memories that are of no concern any more. 

My husband will be taking home a nice overtime paycheck next week.  Usually, this would make me giddy with delight, but today I’d pay any price just to have him with me and forget about the stupid overtime.  My husband was the one that taught me how important family is and to never put money before family.  Today, I am reminded of this important fact.