In 2012 Florida found itself rebounding from the 2008 financial crash. New neighborhoods were popping up in southwest Florida. Our family decided to make a move for our youngest son’s high school experience and a change in our family routine. He had spent some time playing competitive tennis on school breaks and having seen the benefits from these trip, we decided to homeschool and enroll him in a tennis academy. We purchased a home (that at the time ended up being a good investment when we sold it, after he went off to college). As our agent took us to see different neighborhoods in the Sarasota community, Judy Limekiller shared with us information on the area. (Who forgets a name like Judy Limekiller, she ended up becoming a friend). I remember asking her, “How about hurricanes?
Siesta Key beach in Sarasota, known for its unique white, “powdered sugar” sand which is mostly ground quartz.
Are you better off to stay away from the Gulf or Intercostal areas?” Judy proceeded to tell me that Sarasota has been spared for many years and that the last hurricane hit in 1960 and that every year that a hurricane doesn’t hit, is good for the real estate market. She also told me that there is folklore on the topics of hurricanes in the Sarasota area. One story says that there is an Indian burial ground in Sarasota and the ‘spirits’ protect the area. The other story is that the mineral quartz, that is present in the white ‘powdered’ sugar sand on Siesta Key reflects the hurricanes away from Sarasota. Well, Hurricane Milton along with the storms and tornados that came with it last week proved these theories false. Some in the Bradenton Beach area were actually hit a couple of weeks ago when Helene hit as well as this past week with Milton. A hurricane can turn north your home and life upside down. And, it’s not just a hurricane that can turn your life upside down, a tragic accident, a fatal diagnosis or life altering event too, can hit you like a hurricane. As humans living in an imperfect world if you haven’t been a victim of one of these experiences, you most likely will at some point in your life and as the farther down the path of life you go, the greater the chance are, by pure numbers and probability of statistics. It’s just a fact.
Television coverage of these tragic weather emergencies have given us a view of what fellow Americans in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee have experienced. Some people have lost their homes, businesses, life possessions and some lost family members and friends. To see these images and video of such loss in these communities is heartbreaking. The only bright spots in watching the coverage was seeing the outreach of good neighbors, citizens and organizations like Samaritan’s Purse come to the rescue with supplies, support and volunteers willing to roll up their sleeves and get down to the business of repairing home and lives. Talk to anyone who has lived through one of the ‘hurricanes of life’ and they remember the details and how one of these events impacted their life. These unexpected ‘hurricanes’ can cause ripples long after the event itself from loneliness after a loss, financial hardship, depression or health problems/injuries that make day to day life difficult. We just have to look back at history to recall some of these human experiences like war, the loss of a child or spouse or a financial catastrophe.
Yet, as bad and as life alternating events can turn a life on a smooth path upside down, there can be positive ripples. that comes out of the tragedy. Think of the friendships that are forged when communities and neighbors come together. Or, consider the re-shifting of priorities when loss occurs. After going through a business or financial loss, one many come to realize how less important the things in life and just how import the people in our life are and our health. Think about the patient who goes through cancer and survives and how they feel they have a new lease on life, where once they thought the cancer might take their life and now they are cured. A person who goes through a divorce who didn’t see it coming, may somewhere down the road realize that they dodged a bullet and years of being treated with disrespect and unhappiness. They may feel comfort and joy in a solo life or find a friend in a spouse who is their better half and a true team player, where they wold have felt neither joy alone or that special person had they not gone through the ‘hurricane’ in a divorce.
Who in their right mind would willingly sign up for the experience as great as one of life’s ‘hurricanes’? Most likely, no one. However, to gyp or cheat yourself of hardship would be a tragedy, itself. As parents we try to plot out a life of good choices for our children that will give them happiness and prosperity, sometimes nudging them along the way and there are some parents who go way above and beyond to manufacture only “sunshines, unicorns and rainbows” for their precious children, not wanting them to experience any hardships. The intent most likely is good, hoping to protect their offspring from the bumps and bruises of life. Nonetheless, we are unable to wrap those we love in cotton batting to protect them from the “hurricanes” of life, as eventually they will come and if one is unable to handle the problems of life, when they do hit, it’s just a fact, as mentioned earlier as we go down the path of life, one is less likely to absorb and handle the affects.
In addition to better equipped ourselves to handle problems life hands us by the baptism of hardship experience in life, the hard blows and ‘hurricanes’ of life can force us to refocus on what is important in life, to value those we love and that the measure of a man or woman is not the quantity of possessions but the quality of their heart and how they treat people. Experiencing the ’hurricanes’ of life and getting though them ‘standing,’ makes us appreciate, so much more, those joyous life occasions like celebrations, engagements, weddings, baptisms and birthdays, retirements and graduations, to name just a few. Most likely leading to many great days in a well lived life. And one more thing. We can choose to let those ‘hurricanes’ in life make us bitter or better. It’s up to us.
