Hurricanes? What are hurricanes.

After my phenomenal re-uniting with my Dad, my family and I made the decision to move to Florida to be near him and to start a new.  With everything falling into place and my Dad and step-mom helping us find a rental (near them, of course!) we were on our way. The stress of it and the unknown, takes over sometimes, still we forged ahead. It had been interesting to hear the stories my Dad told me of his time in Florida, which included getting used to the weather.  I totally shrugged it off. The weather? Seriously? Rain storms? Hurricanes? I came from New York, which had its snow storms, now and then. Lived in Missouri, which had its share of tornados, and with that; I thought of myself as a  weather Pro. So I thought. We were in the last forty five minutes of driving on the Turnpike, when I noticed that the cars on north side of the road had their windshield wipers on and it was sunny and dry.  I could see down the road it looked dark, but no rain.  Then with-in minutes, the rain came down. It came down in sheets. It came down so hard, the windshield wipers, I swear, were not working hard enough to wipe the rain off the glass! Having no cell phones and having walkie talkies, I messaged Bill and screamed, “I can’t see in front of me!” Before Bill could answer, it was done. Sunny and the road ahead of me was a dry as could be.  What the heck was that? 

We finally arrived August 20th. Beautiful day. Start of our new life in Florida.  August 23st, Hurricane Dennis. My Dad was frantically telling us to get water (um, didn’t the rental include water?) and can goods (why?) and fill the tub up with water (do I need to take a bath for the hurricane?) We so blew off (no pun intended) all of his warnings. Then the sky turned green. The winds kicked up and we saw rain turn sideways. Ok, I was scared. Of course, the kids thought it was cool.  Thankfully, we had no damage but unfortunately we were tested with Hurricanes: Floyd and Gert. After that, we were pros. To this day (especially living through Hurricane Wilma - which happened on our anniversary) we never take them for granted. I do feel blessed that we got to know our neighbors better and appreciate life a bit more everyday. Next blog - I want to be a soccer mom! Not happening. Ton o’ blessings to ya, until next time.