HURRICANE IAN

Wow! Hi friends, long time no see.

Obviously, I didn’t intend to take off last week but Hurricane Ian had other plans and we have spent the last 8 days prepping for the hurricane, living through the hurricane and now, the aftermath. It has been a whirlwind and I would be lying if I said I was truly up for a week of normalcy but, normalcy is calling me.

Our area was not hit hard, we have very minimal damage in our area of town and while I am SO thankful for that, I am having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that 15 minutes down the road it is a different story. And an hour+ south, so much of a different story that I can’t even fathom what they are going through. While our school opened again yesterday and people made their way back to work, others in our county are suffering (some of our teachers have lost everything due to flooding) and more people south of us have lost everything.

It truly is such a deep sense of grief, a weight being carried by us all even if physically our homes and families are okay. It is hard to describe the feeling but it’s very present and hard to just turn the page on. This weekend I had to take a break from social media and the news because I felt overwhelmed with the world still spinning while southwest Florida is standing still in the aftermath of destruction.

Yesterday I took time to sift through my feelings, pray and navigate next steps and what I realize is that I can hold both grief and support while also holding the need to continue my business and life as normal too. I hope that makes sense typed out because while I am typing I am still lacking the right words for it all.

This was me yesterday, with a graphic tee I felt so fitting…there will be beauty after the storm. Probably not today or tomorrow but one day, one day soon.

Part of why I started blogging again was to document experiences and share as an online journal of sorts (you know, old school blogging…) so I wanted to drop in a few pictures and things to remember.

I am so proud of the girls and how they handled their first hurricane. Hurricane Ian was due to make landfall in our town and it was 1 mph less than a Category 5. While Joe and Cam prepared the outside of the house, the girls and I prepped things inside. We had plenty of bottled water but since we didn’t know how long power would be out we filled up every water bottle we have and large containers in case our water was shut off too. One thing you forget is that without water there is no showering or flushing toilets so anytime a hurricane is coming, you have to prep as much water as you can.

We also ran to Barnes and Noble to grab a few new books and coloring books because we knew we would lose power. I love board games but the kids and Joe have to be “in the mood” for them and I knew they likely wouldn’t want to play games so new books were a must. They definitely helped and kept us occupied when power did go out.

I read 2 books while we had no power and started a 3rd one. The girls and I colored a lot.

Once the hurricane winds started to get bad the girls got cozy in my closet. We grabbed a bunch of blankets and pillows and made them a fort and had noise cancelling headphones in case they got overwhelmed with the noise. Paisley used the headphones a few times and thankfully the closet being in the middle of the house blocked a lot of the noise.

After the storm passed (it was SOOOO slow y’all, I think something like 8 mph so it was LONG!) we went outside and the weather was all fall and it felt so nice. Having no power when it is 90+ degrees outside is brutal so having nice chilly weather was a blessing to everyone.

At this point the kids were tired and bored but we sat on the porch chatting and trying to laugh but these were the looks we kept getting from the teen and tween.

On Saturday we took a ride out to Anna Maria Island, our favorite beach to go to. We went to the bay and the beach walking around, looking at the damage and taking in the calmness of the ocean just 72 hours after it destroyed the coast of Florida. It was surreal.

It has been a whirlwind of a week and we have been so appreciative of everyone who has checked in on us. We are doing fine and praying for/trying to help those who are not. If you can continue to pray for us and others as we navigate life post hurricane it would be so appreciated.

Thanks for being here friends and for wading with me as I get back to normal!