Over the past few weeks, life has been a bit hectic with hurricane Irma hitting the coastline and making her path inland to the heart of Atlanta. In preparation for the coming storms, my wife and I had made plans to stay indoors and wait out the worst of it.

Our plans did not happen though as my wife received work the Thursday before Irma was to make landfall in Florida that our newest grandson was being born. So we had to adjust our plans and make a trip to see the little guy.

As we prepared for the weekend drive, we knew the traffic in Atlanta would be worse than usual due to all the evacuations from Florida and the coast, so we left early in the morning on Saturday to avoid as much of the congestion as possible. There was still a decent amount of traffic for that time of day, but nothing compared to the days leading up to the weekend.

As we entered Knoxville, it became apparent that this was also a college football gameday weekend. A home game, in Knoxville, the heart of Volunteer fans. Being a graduate of the University of Tennessee, I knew what to expect for traffic and we made the decision to leave the hospital after the game had started. We spent the entire afternoon and evening with my stepdaughter and the new baby before we headed to my sister’s house to turn in for the evening.

We returned to see the baby again the next day and then headed home before it became too late in the evening, the eve of Irma hitting Atlanta.

I received communication that the offices were going to be closed for the next 2 days in preparation for the storm, so I had the pleasure of working from home during the downpour and heavy winds.

Our area received some flooding and some downed trees, which knocked out power for a lot of people throughout Atlanta, but nothing major in my neighborhood. All in all, it was a very nerve-racking weekend filled with joy.

image: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/geocolor-image-of-hurricane-irma