For a few years—long ago—I lived in Pensacola, Florida and even lived through a hurricane (Frederic, '79). I was eight years old during Frederic, and I thought it was really cool, in the way all big weather events are cool when you're a kid, since you don't own any property and there's a good possibility that school will be closed for a few days.
I'm old now, and I can appreciate the sheer destructive power of these storms. I drive around post-Ivan Pensacola a couple of weeks ago and there are parts of the city that are still in the early stages of the recovery process. Nasty business.
Now it looks like Pensacola's going to get whacked again, just 10 months after Ivan hit. This would be like East Nashville getting hit by a second huge tornado just a few months after the April '98 storm. Like I said: nasty.
I don't want anyone to get whacked by this storm, but it's going to hit someone, and I have to admit that I'm rooting for it to "wobble" (as they say on the Weather Channel) in some direction and miss my one-time hometown. It's too soon.
Here's hoping.
