A One-Night Stand with Irene

You know, I've never known any Irenes until now. And now she's coming to our town with everyone's undivided attention. For about 24 hours or a little more than one night, Hurricane Irene is going to move through my life (and everyone else's) and leave who-knows-what-in-her-wake. It's so like those romances (well, one-night stands) we all indulged in when we were still sowing our wild oats.

But this Irene is different. I just had to buy my one-night stands a drink or two or maybe at most dinner and a movie. Hurricane Irene requires "emergency supplies". This means non-perishable food, gallons of water, radios, batteries and candles---and that's just the basics. Furthermore, it takes days to prepare for her while you're constantly trying to catch the latest news about her arrival.

But it's certain that she's arriving since she's a force of nature and we live in her "projected path." We know she's going to turn off the lights (and the power!). So we busy ourselves with tasks that require electricity since our power company was so "kind" to phone us with the news that there would be extended power outages. Such service!

This Irene may be the most memorable one-night stand I'll ever have. I'm sure she'll be beautiful, powerful and damn scary. No wonder they named this hurricane after a woman.