“It’s supposed to rain in Florida for the next couple of
days,” my husband said.
He was home for the weekend and we were preparing to fly to
Tampa to attend his best friend’s wedding.
Saying it was going to rain was like saying there’s a couple
of tulips in Holland. The day after we arrived, Tropical Storm Debby bore down
on the entire state, whipping rain, wind and debris everywhere.
Having never had a brush with a natural disaster, I was ill
prepared for the situation. I mean, come on, how often do you wake up and The
Weather Channel is doing a live broadcast from the beach in front of your
hotel?
However, I was not nearly as concerned as I would have
thought: After the fifth tornado warning is issued for your area, you begin to
brush it off.
By day three, we were getting pretty squirrelly holed up in
the hotel, so we decided to venture out with another couple. We opted for The
Florida Aquarium in downtown Tampa — a water activity seemed fitting.
Through the deluge we drove in a vehicle that, I swear, was
so big, could have doubled as a pontoon boat. We watched in awe as we saw the
giant wave swells crashing against the concrete barriers along the coast. We
marveled at the winds scattering debris across the road. We chuckled at the
people who, seemingly enthralled, were dancing around in the rain.
The critters at the aquarium didn’t disappoint, and the
entire day became a wonderful adventure that distracted all of us from the fact
that we never once saw the sun during our vacation.
But in the end, that didn’t matter. The happy couple ended
up having an intimate ceremony, complete with twinkling lights in the background.
The bride looked beautiful, the groom looked handsome. The guests cried tears
of joy. The children laughed and played.
And all the while, Debby did her worst, and it didn’t stop
us for a minute.
No comments:
Post a Comment