A Sweet Beginning

On September 10 we experienced Hurricane Irma in Southwest FL.  We chose to stay and boarded up our house.  The days leading up to the storm were interesting.  Since we didn't evacuate we were hanging out at home, doing normal things, and getting prepared.  We lost power the morning of the 10th.  We had cleaned out a closet as our designated "safe spot" and when the storm hit we were in there.  We were able to get a radio working and also had good cell service throughout (go Verizon!) to get updates from people who still had power/TV.  The next day we drove around and it's hard to describe the feelings of sadness we experienced.  In the following days we would head out twice a day to get diesel for our generator and spend the rest of the day at home in the pool or in the one room we kept fans on in.  When they decided to cancel school an additional week Ava and I got tickets to Indiana to see family.  The power came on that next day and Matt was able to return to work.  This is our 3rd week back to school and Ava still isn't back in her classroom because of water damage and my office still has furniture items out of place waiting on repairs. We had minor damage at home, including a leak that we are hoping to get fixed soon.  Our community is known for it's oak trees and many came down during the storm.  SW FL is such a beautiful place to live and it is so sad to drive around and still see signs of Hurricane Irma this many weeks after the storm.  It was amazing to see all of the electric companies from all over the country driving around and helping.  NIPSCO was stationed at my previous school and got a lot of power in our area up and running.  So awesome!

While Ava and I were in Indiana we made some great memories with family. She was awesome on the flight after a long delay and was great in the car.