Dear Hurricane Season,

As Hurricane Alex is "brewing in the Gulf" as they so often say on the news I would like to take this time to write you a little note.

When I first moved to Houston in 1998 I had never experienced your wrath.  It wasn't until 2001 (the summer before 10th grade) that I learned all about you.  It was the first storm of the season.  Tropical storm Allison.  The storms are named in the order of the alphabet so Allison was the first of the season.  We didn't think it would be so bad until it STALLED on top of Houston!  It rained 40 inches here in Houston!

This is a before:

This is after:

Then, Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans and makes everyone think that Hurricane Rita (2005) is the end of the world.  There was mass evacuation.  Notice in this picture that all lanes are North bound.  They switched over all South bound lanes and made them all travel North.  Fun fact:  These cars are in grid lock traffic.  They ARE NOT moving despite the opened up south bound lanes.  Also, everyone leaves town and guess what?  Rita doesn't make land fall in Houston!

Another Rita Fun Fact:  Jonathan was in Waco visiting me.  By the time we knew the hurricane was coming they had already turned 45 to go the other way so Jonathan couldn't make it back to be with his family during the storm (they wanted him in Houston).  I knew a back way to get home and Jonathan followed me in his car because he didn't know the way.  We were the ONLY TWO south bound cars on highway 6 headed to Houston.  It was bumper to bumper traffic the entire way and people were just looking at us like fools for going south.  Our trip was easy though...because all the traffic was on the other side of the road.

Then, in 2008, once Jonathan and I were already married, Ike hit!  Ike was very destructive but my family and I had a good time!  Me and Jonathan stayed with my brother and sister in law at their house in Conroe along with my mom and step dad, my stepbrother, my grandmother, 3 dogs, 1 cat, my sister in law's sister and husband and baby, my nephew, and my other brother.  Before the storm hit we all parked our cars in the garages of houses that were still under construction since my brother's garage couldn't fit 10 cars!  The houses were all nearly done but they weren't sold and they didn't have garage doors so we took advantage (my idea!)  We all stayed together because my step dad was the only one out of all of us who had a generator.  So he hooked it up to my brother's house in Conroe and we had a great time.  We didn't have power for over a week so there was a lot of eating going on because the food would just go bad.  The generator was enough power to run the lights and some fans but we didn't want to over run the system so we stuck to the basics.  My mom biscuits on the grill!  Yes, you can do that.  We grilled a lot and we were lucky because a cool front came through after the storm and kept the temp around the 80's which was nice since we didn't have A/C.  Also, we got to miss over a week of work!

During Hurricane Ike my brother, Austin, left his non-running jeep at my dad's yacht club.  Once the storm started to roll in my brother realized that the coast wasn't exactly the best place for his vehicle to be.  (Since storms have to roll in through Galveston to get to Houston)  My brother and husband took off in my stepdad's truck on the hour and a half trip to the yacht club.  When they got there the water was already over the bulk heads and level with the parking lot.  uh oh!  My brother's Jeep didn't have a place to be towed by on the front bumper so they had to drill hole in the bumper (of course my step dad had a drill in his truck) but the drill had to be plugged in.  So the two of them pushed the Jeep to that last working outlet they could find (Since most of the yacht club building were flooded at this time the power was already out) drilled the hole and hauled it all the way back to Conroe.  BUT, on the way home they called us and told us that the Kemah bridge was closed (the only bridge that connects where the yacht club was to the mainland)and by this time we knew the ferries were closed so of course my mom and I freaked out!  Her son and my husband (of about 2 months) were stuck!  They told us they would just ride the HURRICANE out in my dad's sail boat!  Um NO!  Then, my brother cracks up laughing and says to my mom that they are actually almost back.  Not a funny joke Austin!  But, as it turns out my dad's 30+ foot sail boat rode out the storm without a single scratch.

So, Hurricane Alex bring us a little rain and some wind.  We're ok with that.  I don't think you're even landing in H-town.  But please, keep the flooding and power outages to a minimum.  Thanks!