Being a native Floridian I have lots of memories of hurricanes throughout my life. The first one to hit Orlando directly in my lifetime was Donna which hit in 1960. I was one year old and remember seeing a river outside our front window. I saw people rowing a boat by our house, but it wasn’t a river—it was our street!

Hurricane Donna left her mark.

The next hurricane to leave a mark was David in 1979. Tom and I were married in February of that year and by September, we had moved from Bradenton, on the west coast of Florida to Miami on the east coast.

My family had plans to all gather together at our time share in Cocoa Beach for Labor Day weekend. I was terribly homesick and couldn’t wait.

However, Hurricane David was plowing a path straight to our 1st floor apartment. We had experienced flooding during normal rain storms. I couldn’t imagine what David would do. We put my piano on cement blocks and hoped the water wouldn’t come inside. All hopes for our family get-together ended and I was sad.

Ironically David never made landfall, but impacted both Miami and Cocoa Beach.

We knew we needed to go to the store for essentials, but our age revealed how little we understood what essentials were. Tom was 25 and I was 20. We came home with a half gallon of Breyers Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream and Snicker bars to freeze, just in case we lost power. 🥰

Our heart breaks for all the people affected by this horrific weather event. Banner Elk especially was hit hard. We sold our Barefoot Cabin only two years ago. People there are completely cut off because all the roads are washed away. There is no power, no water, no internet, but I know the people there and they will stop at nothing to help wherever they can.

I started this post before the storm. Now, after the storm it seems more necessary to share.

Please pray for all who were caught in Helene’s path.

May you enjoy your family and secure home more this weekend. What a normal blessing we can easily take for granted.

Blessings,

Tom and Debi