It's All About the Weather

Here, in Florida, we are bracing for a devastating hurricane. Already, it has killed 140 people, mostly in Haiti. Poor Haiti. They are always getting hit. It seems that they never truly recover before another devastation hits again. This category 4 hurricane named Matthew has already hit Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Bahamas, and is now heading to the east coast of Florida.

After it leaves Florida's east coast and inland damaged and bruised, it will head to Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Many family members live in S. Carolina, and I keep texting them, "are you leaving or staying?" So far, all are staying. One says he is keeping an eye on the storm to see if it lessens in intensity. One says no matter what, he is staying. All of them have lived the majority of their lives in hurricane country, and the one who is staying went through Hugo. He said he went to his parents house to help them board up when the winds started, and he was horribly bitten by ants. He told the story that he could not get them off, but he stuck it out and kept boarding the windows for his parents.

With the water comes so much. Ants, sure, and snakes, and alligators, and rats. Then, there is the mud, the debris, the hopeless feeling of what has been lost and needs to be rebuilt.

I remember when Andrew hit Homestead, Florida, a friend of mine had a trucking company in Tampa, and he made a small fortune hauling lumber to Homestead.

Then there are the mosquitos, and now the Zika carrying mosquitos. And cholera.

I turn on the news and see the mass migration from the east coast. And in S. Carolina, the governor closed I-26 Eastbound and all lanes headed west, away from the coast. I thank God that I am safe for the time, and brace for torrential downpours of rain. It will be a very gloomy day tomorrow, and it has already started, it's just pouring outside. But the skies gloom is so much different what Matthew has brought and will bring to many people.

Nature has a way of telling us who is really in charge. I have never known anyone who could outwit, outbuy, outluck a hurricane, tornado, earthquake, tsunami, horrendous rainstorm, lightning, blizzard, sleet storm. Nature commands, and we humans better get out of the way.

So, here I sit, inside a house with electricity (for the time being anyway) -- the governor already said Florida's East Coast will lose electricity -- watching the devastation on the TV and hoping that most people can escape nature's wrath.

Until next week...have a safe and good weekend...