Mood: Confusion to Understanding December 10, 2009

On the day of my fifth birthday, which happened to coincided with the Storm of the Century, I remember feeling very confused. I knew what a flood was, but up until that day, I had never experienced one.  I couldn’t really understand what was happening or why. I didn’t know what to do, so I just watched as my mother took care of things.

I saw my mother insure that all of our family was together under one roof, I saw her send my brother to fetch fire wood, and I saw her send all of our excess hamburgers and hot dogs (what would have been served at my birthday party) to a local church, so that people who were most in need would have something to eat. I watched my mother work diligently to see that everyone and everything was taken care of, and her efforts were rewarded, though I couldn’t see that at the time.

I now understand that the storm happening on my birthday was a blessing. We were able to feed so many people because the party was rescheduled and we had so much extra food.

One my logo, I have my motto as, “Do the best you can with where you are and with what you have got.” Sometimes, you can’t always see the end of the road. No one truly knows what the end result is going to be until we reach the end.  In life, the only things you have control over are the decisions you make. You cannot control the choices of others. You cannot control the weather. All I can do is work hard and do my best, and trust that my goodness and efforts will ensure that everything will fall into place as it should.

The Storm of the Century – Part 2 October 7, 2009

The tide continued to rise. My mom went into crisis management mode. She had my old brother swim into our back yard to salvage some fire wood (the electricity had gone out, and it was expected to be a cold evening). All of the hot dogs and hamburgers, which were intended for my party guests, were sent to the Baptist church down the road. We sent a boat (yes a boat) across the street to pick-up family members who lived in my neighborhood. The first trip brought my grandmother, my aunt (who was a teenager at the time), and my aunt’s friend who had spent the night. I watched as they steered the boat through my front yard, hitting a great oak tree in the process. The boat driver dropped everyone off at my front porch, and then went to get my great-grandmother.

I love my great-grandmother, but she was a stubborn woman. Even though there was water in her house, she was admittedly opposed to getting into the boat which would take her to higher ground (my house). Although she lived her whole life in Florida, she never learned how to swim and was deathly afraid of the water. He was eventually able to get her into the boat, Lord knows how. So she was able to join the rest of the family at my house.

My grandfather has many, many hunting dogs that he keeps fenced in down the road. One of the dogs had given birth to a litter of puppies not long before the storm. By the time he got to the Dog Pin (what we call the fenced in area), all but one of the puppies had died. My grandfather brought the lone survivor to my house. We named him Stormy, and he grew-up to be the best hunting dog ever.

The Storm of the Century – Part 1 October 7, 2009

“In the early morning hours of Saturday, March 13, 1993, the ‘Storm of the Century’ hit Florida’s West Coast with awesome fury. Hurricane-strength winds and a tidal surge as high as 12 feet in some places swamped houses, smashed cars, scooped up furniture, appliances and boats.” - The St. Petersburg Times

The article refers to the No-Name Storm, and the date of March 13th, 1993 was the day of my 5th Birthday.

I woke up early that morning and put on my party dress. It was a teal cowgirl dress with lots of fringe. I wanted to wear a cowgirl dress because there was going to be a pony at my birthday, and I wanted to look the part.

My mom had me step out on the front porch with her. I saw that our front yard was completely flooded. Water came all the way up to the bottom step of our house (my house is build-up high on a hill, so for water to be on the bottom set meant that the water was a few feet deep on the road). My mom told me that the pony could not come to our house today, and that we would have my party on another day. Happy Birthday to me…