After the Wind Died...
It's been a little over a month since #HurricaneMichael blew through the #Panhandle of #Florida. I am still searching to find a new normal. I stayed because my son had flown home from his #California base the night before to help secure their home. My daughter-in-law and grandson were helplessly alone and our hands became valuable to the task at hand. No one had seen a #Category5 hurricane coming. By then, it was too late to leave.
The kids got hunkered down and we shuttered them in before heading back to our condo. The day before the storm was a #normal Florida day, warm and a little #sunny turning to a gray cloudy overcast as the day moved on. We went to the #beach and watched the #water as it churned in the coming winds. A few people brushed their feet in the water as they walked, none daring to challenge the double red flags warning of rip tides. We settled in and waited.
The #rain began to fall before daybreak. We checked the weather report and started taking short videos from the balcony of our second floor. I received a text from a neighbor, a young woman who asked if I thought it too late to #evacuate. I walked over to her place and insisted she and her little dog join us at our place, as our condo is tucked in between the parking garage and another unit. For the next several hours we gabbed as though the #world was not falling apart right outside our door. No one dare mutter the fear inside us in case our #courage should fail and we all panic. Inside, I felt the peace of knowing that #God was in #control. The small #puddle that formed on the lawn below continued to grow into a pond and then a lake. The #palm trees I had dubbed the three wise men went from swaying to nearly touching the ground. Their fronds snapped and blew never stopping to consider the fence that held our neighborhood in and kept #strangers out. It was horrifying to the treetops just outside the fence crack and then tumble as they fell and slammed into the #neighborhood just beyond our sight. The wind slammed against our front door as though a crazed neighbor needed desperately in. #Running to the door as though I had missed something, I unlocked the door only to have the wind push me backward, the rain soaking me as I fought to secure the door once more. The #war railed outside and we, like #prisoners had no where to hide. Suddenly, #sirens wailed before the lights flickered and then disappeared. I reached for my cell phone to no avail. Everything had gone silent.
We kept #talking, as though talking made everything normal, until the calm arrived and the sky faded from gray to blue. I felt like #Noah exiting the #Ark when our guest and I decided to survey the damage. Just outside our door, the water was ankle deep in the hallways. We waded to the steps and walked the circumference of the #property stepping over downed trees and broken #glass where we could get through. Portions of roofs were torn off on some of the buildings and slowly, the few neighbors who had stayed began to appear. Our beautiful pool was filled with debris, the decorative lights that lit our way toppled on the cement. Making our way to the main street light that sits just beyond our gates, we stood horrified at what lay beyond. Stoplights, #billboards, cars, and electric poles were strewn as far as the eye could see. Every shrub, #tree and plant in sight looked as though they'd been hurled into shredder. We #cried, not knowing what yet lay beyond what we had witnessed.
It took two #days to reunite with the kids and another week of #hot, #humid weather to decide what needed to be done. They had survived without injury though their house had not. For the next several weeks we worked together to empty their #house of every belonging they owned, now wet and discarded on the heap in front of their home. I cried when I had to throw away my grandson's favorite stuffed animal and again when he asked where it was. Photos, #clothes, furniture, everything went, destroyed by something out of their control. All around them, their neighbors were going through the same thing. Emptying their lives onto an ever-growing #trash heap.
For over a week, we had no water, no electric, no air conditioning, and no phone. We drove an hour to get #groceries and #gas. We have gotten used to the smell of rotting food and animals. Our electric still flickers from time to time and the #internet is spotty. None of that mattered at all.
Even in the #aftermath of the storm, #God showed His #grace. Those who had working phones shared with those who had none. Neighbors jumped in to help each other and prepared food for workers, even though they needed food for themselves. #Churches and aid groups plowed into town, their arms open to those who had lost so much. #Police officers and first responders from around the nation sacrificially gave of their time and money to help their brother agencies. #Electric workers headed a parade of #trucks that numbered in the thousands, all ready to help us put our lives back together. We watched as those workers lined up to perform a #ballet as they raised downed power lines with bucket trucks. Then, out of the blue, a dear friend and her co-workers from #HarcumCollege in Pennsylvania, sent a box of hope that included a teddy bear for my grandson. I wept again as I thought of the love and prayers so many had sent our way.
We've finally finished the cleaning out of the kids house. Our son is back on his boat, his family settled in a tiny apartment miles from us now. We have blowers and dehumidifiers howling continually for a couple of weeks now as our condo association searches for damage that is out of anyone's view. Our son's house has no ceilings, floors or walls now, waiting like a naked child to be #clothed.
Our new "normal" is bypassing downed #trees, knocked over signs, and trash piles, paying cash in places that still have no electric, and wondering how life goes on around us. Across the bridge in #PanamaCity and a little farther down the coast at #MexicoBeach, the devastation is beyond what can be explained here. People are still living in tents, landlords are gouging those who need affordable houses, and looters are stealing what little remains.
The heaviness of this storm has weighed us down, but it cannot keep us down. Every day God shows us the #power of His #judgement and the #grace of His #love. Thanksgiving is next week. We have over 20 workers who came here from faraway places and won't be able to go home to be with their families this #Thanksgiving. Neighbors are all getting together and making a big Thanksgiving dinner for them here. Its the least we can do for one another.
Even after a month, my tears still fall when my heart is moved by something I cannot fix. Much has been #lost here, but much has been gained. The #generosity and caring of so many #volunteers willing to put their lives on hold and give of themselves to help us #recover is astounding. It will be a long road. Some things we will never see again, but that's okay.
This #storm had a way of making so many of us look beyond what we own to what really matters. That #hope, for us, is remembering that..."The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise Him." Psm 28:7 (NKJV)
Retirement IS a job! Thanks to all who have held Florida up with your prayers, your thoughts, your time, and your money. You made a difference. #FloridaStrong