I’m sure you didn’t escape the fact a hurricane hit the east coast this week.  Thanks to the absurdities eccentricities of my chosen profession, for me, that meant days of being thrown head first into full-tilt media madness.  I survived Hurricane Irene pretty unscathed.  I’ve dried out, and my hair is no long wind-blown. 

This little corner of the Internet is usually how I escape from my demanding job so I don’t like to talk about work here, but Irene made me feel a little sentimental.  You see, Greyson and I met at work and like to say we fell in love during a hurricane. 

Hurricane Isabel changed our lives forever. 



It was mid-September 2003 and I had just fallen off the proverbial University turnip truck when I somehow landed my first job.  I was a little 22 year-old with no money and even less knowledge of what I was doing.  All my coworkers were called in on 13 hour shifts, including Greyson.  I had met him before and thought he was cute and funny, but there was more in air that night than tree branches. 

Everytime I hung up the phone or took a memo, there he was, smiling slyly with a twinkle in his eye.  He was quick with a joke and a sideways glance to make sure I had heard the joke.  We should’ve been working when we constantly met eyes across the room the whole night.  “I wonder,” I thought.  We locked eyes again, “I wonder.”  He asked me to meet up with everyone after work at the only restaurant in the city that had power.  We all manuvered around downed trees and fought 60 mph wind gusts to meet at the Carolina Ale House. 

We didn’t talk to anyone else the entire night.  We sipped Bud Light and talked.  The beer made him burp and he turned his head to burp away from me.  I giggled and called him out.  I may or may not have told a flirty story about wearing a thong.  When he touched my arm I knew.  It felt like electricity going through my body.  I knew my life was changing.  We said goodnight through the downpour. 

Nearly 8 years later during another “I” storm, he stayed home with our baby as I put on my rain gear for another long shift.  I had to laugh at where the winds of life take us, sometimes at 60 mph.