I've been thinking of writing an autobiography or memoir, but it just never comes together for me, but I figured if I write one story at a time and post it on my blog maybe once a month, I can do that. Maybe one day I'll pull all the stories together and put them in a book but for now I'll just share some stories with you about my childhood and into adulthood. Some of the stories will be happy, some sad and some horrific because that was my childhood. But they will all be real, things that actually happened. If it seems like something that people enjoy reading maybe, I'll keep it going. These stories will not be in any kind of order; I'll just write them as they come to me.
Hurricanes I've been in
I've told you before that when my parents split and divorced, I ended up living with my grandma for almost 2 years. My dad didn't want me or my brother living with him because he wanted to date a bunch of women. My mom had a boyfriend named Larry and he hated me and didn't want me living with he, my mom and my little brother, and my mom went along with it. So, my grandma took me in for a while. I lived with her when I was 11-13 years old. During that time there were a couple of hurricanes in California where we lived.
In September of 1982 California was hit with a category 4 hurricane named Olivia. I was living in Redondo Beach, California at the time with my grandma. I remember my grandpa coming over and boarding up some of the windows of our house. He stayed with us for a couple of days while the hurricane passed. They weren't a couple at the time, but you could tell they really cared about each other.
I mostly remember all the rain, wind and flooding. Trees in my grandma's yard fell over, tiles flew off the roof and the fence in the back yard fell over in parts. The wind was the scariest part. I was 12 years old and had never seen wind like that before. When parts of the fence fell in the back yard and some of the wood started slamming up against our house, me and my grandparents went outside and took the wooden slats and threw them over the fence into the vacant lot next door so they wouldn't keep slamming up against the house and wouldn't break the windows. The wind was absolutely nuts. It was hard to hold onto anything let alone big pieces of wood from the fence, but I helped as much as I could. Back then I thought of my grandparents as old, but I realize now that they were the same age I am right now! That's crazy to think about.
Then the next year in August of 1983, we got rain and wind from Hurricane Ismael which at the time it came over us was a tropical depression, but I remember being scared because I thought the same thing was going to happen again. Thankfully it didn't and while there was a lot of rain and wind, it wasn't anywhere as bad as the previous year.
I've been in other storms but nothing like Hurricane Olivia.
Have you been through a hurricane?
Links to past stories
2023
2024
I have not been through a hurricane. How nice that your grandparents took care of you. I love my gram and that is why I go by Grammy to my grands.
ReplyDeleteI've never lived in hurricane territory. Cannot imagine living through a hurricane or a tornado and not coming out with nightmares. Thankfully you were safe. I'm sure that's not anything a person wants to go through twice.
ReplyDeleteThankfully I have not endured a Hurricane or a Tornado. But, we've had some Earthquake activity in Arizona when Cali gets the big ones, and lots of catastrophic Fires and/or Flooding and Drought here. The scariest thing in Childhood I recall were the Blizzards of Upper Michigan, which could bury a House if it was only One Story Tall with the Snow Drifts... and, the Bomb Scares in Europe when we were deployed over there in the Military.
ReplyDeleteGlad you survived the hurricanes.
ReplyDeleteI've never been in a hurricane. The videos I've seen of them show how scary it must be, though. Good thing your grandfather was available to help board up the windows.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that California got hurricanes. I don't see why not since it's it has a coast and storms can move in. My cousin lived in Redondo Beach for a long time. It must have been scary. We get them here every now and again but luckily the ocean is cold enough that most of the time they peter out, but not always.
ReplyDeleteWind is so scary, much more than rain. You must have been terrified. At least your grandad was there for you and your grandma. Thankfully, my area is quite sheltered from the worst that nature can throw at you.
ReplyDelete"Back then I thought of my grandparents as old, but I realize now that they were the same age I am right now! That's crazy to think about."
Right?
I too am realizing that the people I thought were soooo old years ago were younger than I am right now.
ReplyDeleteFlorida/East Coast hurricanes get so much press that sometimes I forget West Coast gets them, too!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds really scary, but I'm glad you were safe with your grandparents. I've never been in a hurricane, but a few of the ones that have hit the East Coast have had remnants hit us and that alone was bad enough.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think of California as a hurricane alley... I grew up about 1/2 mile from salt water along the SE Coast and have lived through hurricanes and also have fled them when I lived on an island, one which created a lot of damage.
ReplyDeleteHaving lived in Florida and even Virginia, we've faced a few hurricanes. It can be scary.
ReplyDeleteWe've never faced a hurricane, only unending blizzards and ice storms. Your childhood sounds as tumultuous as mine.
ReplyDeleteThat is SO scary! I cannot even imagine what that must be like. Sometimes the east coast of Canada will get the tail end of hurricanes but on the prairies where I live, there are no hurricanes but occasionally a twister/tornado can happen. Never been in one of those either, thank goodness.
ReplyDeleteIt's mostly just occasional after effects that may reach this far although ther was a Hurricane (Hazel, I think) that reached Toronto in the 50s.
ReplyDeleteI've never been through a hurricane, but they sound as desperately scary as tornados and earthquakes. I don't blame you for starting to panic when the second one came.
ReplyDeleteI have been in a city that had one. The sirens went off and we all went to shelter. It actually bypassed us by a few miles. They are not fun.
ReplyDeleteExciting - too exciting!!
ReplyDeleteI would say no, never been in a hurricane (unless you count the hurriquake of a couple years ago), but August 1982? I was living in Anaheim, which is about an hour away from Redondo Beach. Same as August 1983. I do not recall these storms. (I was 11 & 12 at the time. If I didn't hear "hurricane", I wouldn't have known, anyway.)
ReplyDelete