Our 10th Anniversary Thanks to Ocracoke

by guest writer Sara Chauhan 

They say rain on your wedding day is good luck. So a hurricane must be the greatest luck off all, right?

On August 3, 2004, the day we were to be married on Ocracoke, Hurricane Alex made a surprise visit to the island. We did not exactly consider this good luck. With no time to evacuate, and with our family and friends from off-island scattered in rental houses across the island, we do what we do on Ocracoke and rolled with it. Monica and I made the rounds to ensure the first-timers knew what to expect and do during a hurricane. Then we hunkered down and rode out the storm. For most of our guests, the hurricane itself was an adventure (though those of us staying on the sound side may have a different story to tell). Even when water started shooting out of the electrical outlets at my mother-in-law’s rental cottage, where some of her kids and grandchildren had  gathered to ride out the storm, nobody panicked. After all, the power was off on the island, and at the breaker, and the house weathered the storm well.

The day after a hurricane is always beautiful and our family and friends met at the beach to enjoy a phenomenal day together. Then the call came that a mandatory evacuation was to begin the next morning. We thought we’d have the rest of the week to work in the ceremony that Alex had halted, and now we were going to have to pull it off in a matter of hours if we wanted our friends and family there. So, like we do on Ocracoke, we rolled with it.

Everyone gathered an hour before sunset at the beach for the ceremony, which my stepfather performed. After the sun set, we all returned to my mother-in-law’s house to eat the food that everyone was either going to have to throw away or haul off with them when they evacuated the next morning. And everyone made it home to their respective cottages before the curfew that had been in place since the storm. A far cry from what we’d planned for a year with local business owners, it was still a beautiful evening and we knew we were two very lucky people to have a family and island community that loved us so.

Most people know that my mother-in-law’s rental cottage burned down the next morning. She and her brother and sister barely escaped with their lives, still in their pajamas. It was not a good day. But once again, this community we love so dearly rallied and we will forever be in their debt. While it was a terrible loss for everyone involved: the property owners that lost their home, the renters that lost everything they’d come to the island with, the brides that lost all of the thoughtful wedding gifts – and all of the cameras that were handed out during the ceremony – we knew it was just stuff. The important things were not lost: life, love, community.

Now in the ten years since, we’ve heard so many crazy stories about what happened that day. Most of them made us laugh. Some of them made us angry. Others were just too absurd to even worry about. But it’s time to dispel some of those stories. Here it is from someone who was there: 

• The insurance investigation was inconclusive, but we know the fire started under the house somewhere near where my aunt’s car was parked. The electric breaker box was right above the hood of the car (remember the water shooting out of the electrical outlets during the storm?). We are all aware of the car battery theory, and I have my own theory, but I won’t posit here. I left it with the professionals and that is where it will stay.
• There was not a raging party at the house the night before. Island friends, family, and children were there. My mother and another friend played their guitars so we’d have music when the two-hour window of power was done.
• Yes, we grilled food. Outside where you grill food. Not under the house (or in the house). Considering the deck with the grill was the only thing still standing, we can safely say it wasn’t a grill issue.
• My aunt did NOT pour gasoline on her car battery to dry it out. That’s just crazy. And dumb. And it didn’t happen.
• Despite the horror, the important things survived: My mother-in-law and her siblings.

Ten years later, we know that rain or fire on your wedding day is not an omen. It’s just life. But having gone through that week, it reconfirmed that together, with an incredible community (and amazing volunteer fire department!), we can weather any storm and anything else that life throws our way.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you Ocracoke! And happy anniversary to my love.