I Am A Child of the Wind, Part Four

I am a child of the Wind.

Does the wind follow me?

In the suburbs of Chicago,

in high school,

the wind blew in my face

as I ran home -

EVERY day, it billowed around me,

slowing my running steps.

**

At an Alexandria, Virginia work conference

a force of nature piroutted, reeled and rolled

across Old Town, encasing it and

Washington D.C. across the Potomac River.

The Wind followed me there. Oh no.

**

My husband and daughter

accompanied me -

planning to see DC, we would visit

the sights in the afternoon and

the weekend before going home.

Only...

a storm was coming.

Daughter went inland

to visit a friend.

Safe, she was safe from

the big wind, a hurricane,

an enormous coastal storm.

Me? I am the Child of the Wind!

**

We stayed put in Old Town,

at the conference hotel,

one mile from the Potomac River.

**

The hurricane raced up the

east coast.

Wait! Does DC have hurricanes?

No way. I was incredulous.

I never thought hurricanes

hit Alexandria or the Capital.

My manager returned to

San Francisco. She didn’t want

to be there when the storm made landfall.

My family had traveled with me; our expense.

The cost was great to leave early.

We stayed.

Daughter safe, inland, with friends.

I am the child of the Wind.

In the hotel, one mile from the

riverfront, my husband and I

watched from our high window as

transformers blew out,

blue flashes across the city,

one by one,

lights fading to black,

drip, dot, drip, dark!

The city eclipsed,

block by block.

Generators ran the hotel.

They housed us safely,

fed us.

**

The next morning, the power was restored.

We walked to the riverfront.

Old Town Alexandria was flooded.

Lower floors of the historic old brick buildings

were filled with river water.

Park benches were under the river water,

And the grassy waterfront park was a lake.

The water slowly receded.

Daughter safely returned to us.

We flew home, the three of us,

out of the hurricane winds,

away from the flooded zones.

**

The jetstream pushed against our plane

flying east to west, slowing our progress.

Wind Child, I was anxious to be home.

The white peaks of our volcanoes,

Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens,

Mt. Adams rose above the clouds,

their glacier peaks gleaming in afternoon

sunrays, welcoming us back.

The plane wove its way toward

the airport, over the mountains,

our seatbelts fastened tightly

as we descended in thermal turbulence.

We arrived safely on the ground,

an anticlimactic landing

in the Pacific Northwest.

Out of the hurricane winds,

Home -

The Child of the Wind,

home.

Note: Never did I think a hurricane would come to Alexandria, Virginia. Never having lived on the east coast, I was naive. We don't have hurricanes where I live. I grew up in tornado country but have lived in the Pacific Northwest for many years, after living in Alaska. I'm used to wind storms, ice and snow storms, fierce rain storms but a hurricane in the Capital of the United States was quite an experience.

Copyright © 3/13/2024 by Andrea O. Corwin