Earth, Wind, Fire….and Rain, Rain, Rain!

 Returning to Naples, after a weekend in Melbourne, we were greeted on the freeway by some serious reminders that we had quietly slipped into June and with it, the beginning of hurricane season! You have to appreciate Florida. If you aren’t prepared for the possibility of a showdown with Mother Nature you have either been procrastinating or in a coma! These signs, normally designated for important travel information are now being used as big bold reminders of things to come!

I do stay alert with a daily check of the National Hurricane Center website. I confess, though, that I am behind on getting that hurricane kit stocked up. It is on the “Must Do” list for this weekend, when once again the toy bin for the grandkids is transformed into a container, not for Play Doh and Lincoln Logs, but peanut butter, tuna fish, flashlights, and batteries. The toys will take up new residence in the laundry hamper, and the laundry will have to move to a basket. Cases of water and Gatorade will be stacked in the lanai with hopes that we will sail through until the end of November without so much as a tropical storm to show for it. Only then will the extra food and water be consumed until next June when we start all over again.

Knowing that in 2017 we had a plan that went to Hell in a hand-basket, this season we’ll have a plan, a backup plan, and a back up to the back up. From afar it’s easy to say, “Get out!”, but in execution that isn’t always easy. Unless you’re retired you can’t just pick up and go at the first threat of a hurricane coming your way, but you can prepare to evacuate. Most of us have to wait, plan our escape, and then hope there is enough fuel along the way to actually get out, and a refuge to go to once you do. You might be like my neighbor, and lucky enough to get on the last flight out before they close the airports. If all that blows away in the wind, like it did for us in 2017 with Irma, not because of poor planning, but because of a baby, you have no choice, but to batten the hatches and hunker down with those large bins of non-perishable food, cases of water, and prayer.

Florida isn’t the only place to get hit by the fury of Mother Nature, and hurricanes aren’t the only weapons in her arsenal. We’ve all seen this past year just what she can do when peeved; mortifying fires in the west, horrendous flooding in the heartland, and  devastating tornadoes of the midwest. Mother Nature can unleash a ferocity of energy second to none. Wherever you live, whatever you face, all you can do is prepare for the worst, hope for the best, and be alert.

I plan to add pen and paper to my kit this year, so I can jot down all the things I “wish” I had, but don’t when disaster strikes. In the aftermath of recovery the brain seems to shut down all non-essential systems, and suddenly you can no longer remember those things that during the storm you said, “I wish I had….”. This year, I plan to be prepared for a brain freeze! And thankfully this season, nobody is expecting a baby!

God bless us all!