Heartbreak in the East: Hope in the Homeland

This last week has been a hard one for me. Living in the heart of hurricane land, I don't love when a storm comes along, but I don't worry too much.

Florida houses are typically built to withstand a category 3 hurricane (meaning winds as high as 130 mph and crazy rain for days), but the rest of the nation doesn't build to that standard.

As I watched the trajectory of Helene & listened to it being upgraded to a category 4, I knew the results wouldn't be pretty. Although grateful this storm missed us initially, my attitude changed when I heard about Tennessee and North Carolina. Georgia and South Carolina are dealing with the fallout too. I wished the hurricane had turned and hit us more fully because we have the response, the infrastructure, the attitude to face big scary storms and carry on.

Our governor put all the preemptive processes in place -- emergency workers, supply routes, road and electricity line repair -- but he couldn't do that for the other states. 

Especially the ones inland.

The stories... Oh the stories. I was drowning in heartache. (This is why I can't read WWII books, folks.) Two dams were oversaturated and burst, flooding whole towns. Family members lost. Livelihoods swept away. An inability to communicate with loved ones. I went to bed with tears in my eyes and prayers on my lips.

Answers come too. They didn't come from the federal government but from governors of neighboring states, from people whose hearts broke like mine who own helicopters, from good Samaritans who donated cash and goods. Desantis sent aid to the hardest hit areas FROM Florida and I cheered at every new development. Last I heard, he sent a brigade of road workers with bridge materials to help people trapped in the North Carolina mountains.

I still watch and worry and pray, and soon our family will trek out to assist with disaster clean up (as is our way), but it's incumbent on all of us to make the world better -- to find those who are suffering, to lift where we can, to BRING HOPE in place of devastation.

My prayers continue with those who have no electricity, no running water, who are scrambling for food and safety. At the same time, my heart is light knowing good people in the world are responding to the desperation. Lets be those good people, eh?

How is your heart holding up? How have you found peace despite the upheaval in the world? What are you doing to find/bring happiness each day?

Florida has PERSONALITY, do You?

This is my Top Ten of Florida list.

You know you live in Florida when...

10. You've got "Sunshine" when most people are dealing with rain, snow or other inclement weather.





9. "Eek it's a mouse!" You shriek and jump. "Oh, no, it's just a roach." You deflate.

8. You fear standing water.










7. You can casually say, "Oh yeah, it's hurricane season."









6. To go exotic bird watching all you have to do is pull up a lawn chair, sit in your front yard and wait until exotic birds start picking bugs out of your lawn.









5. You are tan 24/7.








4. You can drive an hour any direction and be at a different beach.







3. CRUISE PORT. Need I say more?












2. The question isn't "What should we do tonight?" It's "Which should we do tonight?"






1. Everything you say comes out in "Disney". You find yourself quoting Disney in every day euphemisms. You refer people to locations based on Disney. Example: (Imagine replacing every "swimming" with "writing".)



Quirks define us. They are what bring out the good and the bad. Setting can be as important as characters, and Florida has plenty of personality--which is why I've based a few scenes in my new book here.

What's your favorite and least favorite thing about where you live? And what about your local defines you?