Around 3:45 or 4:00 in the morning my parents realized that the storm was the worst either had ever been through in the 40+ years they each had lived in Florida. They didn't like some of the sounds they were hearing so they decided we should all gather in the most interior hallway of the house. I remember my dad coming into my room and telling me to grab a pair of shoes and to follow him. I did as he asked and as I left my room (and for some inexplicable reason closed my bedroom door behind me) we heard a roar and a crash unlike anything we'd ever heard before. We hurried to the other side of the house and sat in that interior hallway as a family.

Within moments of us getting to the hallways we hid in, it was raining inside our house from all of the fixtures (recessed lights, air vents, etc.). We at first tried to catch the leaks in bowls and pots/pans until we ran out of them. Then we watched as the ceiling beams appeared through the ceilings themselves and parts of the ceiling began to sag. This was the first hurricane I had ever been through and I was scared. I looked at my mom and dad and asked them about the ceiling to which my dad replied (and I'll never forget), don't worry, that is supposed to happen. It was absurd and I should have realized what was going on, but my dad had been through countless storms and if he said it was supposed to happen, then it is, and I felt better.

The rough night finally ended around 8 or so in the morning. We first opened the pocket door that separated the "bedroom side" of the house from the rest of the house and were amazed at what we saw. It was raining in the hallway through our open roof. The hallway carpet and walls were soaked and big sheets of the ceiling and insulation lay all over the place.

We walked back through the bedrooms and first explored my parents room. In their room the roof over their bed was completely gone and you could see where the storm had bent back roof beams above in the attic. The shutters had somehow been torn off their windows and the windows blown in. Their room was a complete disaster.

We then moved down the hall, past my room to my brothers rooms at the end of the hall (my oldest brother had just started classes at UF that day, and the middle of the three of us was in the house with us). Both of their rooms had soaked carpets and ceiling on the floor, but you couldn't see the sky from their rooms. Everything was ruined, but the damage wasn't as severe as my parent's room.

Finally, we walked back down the hall to my room, which shared a wall with my parents room. The door was still shut and when we opened it we were in awe. The roof above my room was completely torn away and the top 1/3 of the exterior wall had collapsed completely. Everything in my room was completely soaked through and certain items had apparently been blown away completely by the storm. What struck us most directly that day though, and remains with me forever, is the sight of my bed. Right in the middle of my bed, piercing through the mattress and stopping at the box spring, right where I had been sleeping was a roof beam that the storm apparently sheared off and sent that way. Had my parents not pulled me out of my room, I am not sure what would have come of me.

We spent much of the rest of that day surveying our home and our neighborhood and awed by the devastation we saw. To this day I still tell my wife when we visit how much more full the pine forest near our house used to be. Even with everything rebuilt, some scars remain unfixed unfortunately.

An engineers report indicated that a downdraft similar to a tornado spawned by the storm hit our house. The engineer believes based on the damage that the downdraft made contact with our house right above my bedroom, which is why the roof was torn open like a tuna can there and then split down the rest of the house. Once the roof was open, Hurricane Andrew (and we were in the Cat 5 part of it) could have its way with our house. It sure did, but to the credit of the original builder, we were safe in that hallway and none of us suffered and injury whatsoever.

I look back on what happened then and remain awed by nature and its power. Moreso though, I remain awed by my parents and consider them my heroes. They absolutely saved my life that night. After the storm, when we moved a few times from place to place in Miami, they did everything they could to keep our lives as normal as possible. My dad would leave the house at 6AM with me to fight crazy traffic to ensure I still attended the same school I would have had our house not been damaged that year. My mom would then leave her school in the afternoon (5 minutes from where we were living at the time) and drive an hour to pick me up and then another hour to bring me home). All the while my parents fought with the insurance company, coordinated the rebuilding effort, and did their normal day jobs. I honestly don't know how they did it, but they did. I called them on my way to work this morning to tell them that I love them, and as I raise my kids, I every day try my best to do everything I can to give them everything they need to be happy and healthy, just like my mom and dad did.