Hurricane Ian

As it goes this is the time of the season, for the Atlantic to brew up some fun filled disasters to intensify the survival mode many of us have been living in. To panic buy the bread and milk, toilet paper and water and of course the petrol. The state of Florida is on high alert and shopping, boarding up and battening down the hatches once again. Upset that Cuba, one of Florida’s last lines of defense, didn’t slow down the storm out there on its own.

So here we are again! Since my husband and I have married and purchased a new home in 2015, we’ve been through 2 major hurricanes and I no longer party, nor panic about things I have no control over. I don’t party, well, maybe a small bit but only to temporarily relive the hurricane induced anxiety. The reason I don’t call for celebration is because although we have endured flooding and damage to our home in the past, I know someone is loosing a home completely. Families are being displaced somewhere and a Newley wed has a lot of work cut out in their near future. Your home should be your safe haven and sanctuary. When you go through an natural disaster it’s anything but that. It’s a constant state of repair and depending on where you live, looting and many other tragedies can happen all at once. We felt grateful after hurricanes Matthew and Irma that we did not lose our home completely because that is a very realistic measure when Mother Nature wills it be.

Why I don’t panic is because I suppress my need for constant control. We are talking about Mother Nature. She is in control, and I’ve seen enough to know there is not enough bread and milk to save us all from her glorious wrath. Sure we have food for the time being. If the shit hits the fan, however. I’m well aware of the fema help that will come, offering us hot food and water and this is Florida, if we can make it a few miles we can fill up on gas and water so no need to treat this like an apocalyptic event just yet.

Reflecting back on the two major storms that hit our home it was beyond exhausting to come back to a flood inside the house and knowing we lost the first floor. The homeowners before us had lived and raised a family for 30 years and never got this kind of damage. We got it twice but even so, we are still grateful and definitely traumatized by the disaster. Especially when you keep hearing how, the first storm was a 100 year storm and we would never see that again in our lifetime. Thinking we were out of the woods we got hit with Irma and lost all the trees we’d hoped we’re going to come back after Matthew. Thankfully the city we live in was very accommodating, pet friendly at the restaurants and bnbs near by we spent a few weeks camped out enjoying the a/c before power was restored. Resting a little bit before we went to work on the house after the flood waters receded. Remembering the smells and the time it took. But on the bright side, we got a brand new kitchen, new lighting and paint job out of the mess.

Maybe I’m just burnt out on hurricanes and I feel the concern deeply for the west coast of Florida and am hopeful everyone is well enough prepared and safe and gets to the safe place they need to be during the storm. I also hope and feel for the people who will be evacuated, only to come back to their homes in shambles and needing a place to stay for a few weeks and sometimes months and hopefully not years until their place is restored.

This is just an emotional outburst from my ptsd with storms, thanks for reading and I hope to update this shortly after the storm of our power is intact.