Anticipating a hurricane's arrival for a week really sucks. By Geniusofdespair

Andrew: All who remember the Category 5 Andrew are particularly frightened...

You can almost feel the hush permeating residents in Miami Dade County as they dutifully wait for a massive storm to hit. Today is Thursday. Irma isn't due to hit the mainland until Sunday but people have already been in hurricane mode for 3 or 4 days. It is almost like we are all caught in a vacuum, like the pressure in the atmosphere sucked all the energy to engage with others out of us, and we wait and we prepare.

 Stores are shuttered. Yes, even Starbucks yesterday. City Hall closed too. The Storm is still 2 or 3 days out. But everyone waits in a quiet anxiety. The only activity was at gas stations, but gas is gone from most stations, yellow tape surrounds the pumps. The ever bustling Aventura Mall was still, with parking spaces right in front of store entrances. The restaurant I ate at was empty.

I woke up this morning to an eerily calm day. Biscayne Bay is like glass.

Dinner Key Marina on Biscayne Bay after Andrew.

Everyone is waiting. But this Godot is actually coming we just don't know where.  There have been many times we have spent waiting and preparing and then -- nothing happens.

Now me, on the other hand, I love nasty storms and seas breaching sea walls with giant waves crashing down on them. There is nothing I love more than watching a hurricane in action. When my husband was otherwise engaged I opened the hurricane door of my townhouse during Wilma. It was exhilarating to feel the wind and see its power on the bending trees and know that nature trumps man every time. But I do have some sense. I want to protect my stuff. Not me so much,  just my stuff.

No one can know this type of anticipation except in hurricane prone areas. It is too many days to mull over the impending doom, the thought that our beloved Nuclear Power Plant Turkey Point will be destroyed and we will end up like Fukishima, where robots are searching for melted nuclear fuel 16 years later.

I blame the weather service for their early predicting. Being in anxiety, anticipating something awful that might or might not happen to you,  for 7 or 8 days sucks the life right out of you.

Having your birthday a day before a hurricane is to hit: not so hot either.