Story #9 - Hurricane Matthew has passed us by! Yippee-yah yaay! Eastern time: 5:29 pm

Samara and her family has been enjoying their days off from school and work due to Hurricane Matthew. "I am so happy that we did not have school yesterday and today!" Samara laughed with joy while she was talking to her family. Samara, Ethan, and their parents had been playing board games most of the day to enjoy their family time together. "There is nothing like a Hurricane to come along and make our little worlds stop and focus on what is important in life." said their dad. He has been filling the family with all of his wonderful wisdom on life in general. He talked to Samara and Ethan about "Just say no to drugs" and "Just say no to anything that will take your focus away from your goals in life." They were also so grateful that they still had power, because earlier this morning when the storm debris was pounding on their roof and their "storm-shuttered windows," the lights turned off for about 45 minutes! During the "lights out" downtime, they started playing games and eating the bar-b-que chicken and hamburger patties that their dad cooked on the grill yesterday. "This is so much fun eating and playing games by candles!" Ethan said. "Yes, but I think we need to consider making a sacrifice and finally buying that generator for the house, honey." their mother said to their dad. "Yes, yes, of course, I will start pricing them soon after this Hurricane season leaves, because they will be too expensive during this time." their dad said. "I am just so happy to be out of school!" Samara said again to her family. "I even finished some of my report for my flower, and studied for my Math and English test today." she said. The only thing Samara thought was strange about the storm shutters on the house was how DARK it made the whole house even though it was daylight outside. "It looks like night time in here." she said. "Yes, but the storm shutters protect our windows and glass doors from being broken by flying debris, rocks, and anything hard enough to come through them." said her dad. Samara and her family were enjoying this time with each other and was especially happy now that the lights had been turned back on for the past two hours. Hurricane Matthew had passed by their town in South Florida and now they just have to clean up the extra tree branches, leaves, and other debris scattered across their yard......but not today. Today, they will just enjoy each other's company, eat good, laugh, pray, laugh, and eat some more. Tomorrow will be the day to clean up.