Florida has two seasons: Sweltering and Hurricane.

You never realize how unprepared and blasé you’ve become until the threat of a honest to goodness hurricane is bounding toward your doorstep. I’ve lived in FL for 27 years. I’ve been through my fair share of “no-name” storms and didn’t think anything of Irma. That is until mid week Sep 6th.

We narrowly escaped but not without our fair share of stress, downed trees and loss of power for a week straight. It was miserable however I’m thankful for our luck and I’ve learned some interesting things:

Fountain pens are the best collectible to have in this situation.

They can easily be thrown into a safe or bag and quickly brought along during an evacuation. Best of all they take up little to no space and don’t rely on electricity!

It’s just stuff.

When given little time to prepare you quickly learn that family – pets especially! – are the only things that matter. The rest is just stuff. Sure there are the essential documents that are always safely stowed away however the first out of the home were our cats. I remember staring at my uranium glass curio thinking – well, worse case scenario: I’ll just start over. It’s very humbling.

Always be prepared. Always have a backup plan.

Life has a way of throwing a curve-ball your way when you’re least expecting it, forcing you into some intense reality checks.

P.S. If you ever need a reason to clean out your home, the threat of a hurricane is an excellent excuse!

Be safe and …“Long live paint!”
~*Twigg*~