Hurricanes

Now that I'm here in Florida, I pay a little closer attention to hurricanes.  I did when my Dad first moved down here -- but now that my stuff could be blown all over hell's half-acre, I am a bit more interested in them.

I'm working on a grant.  Specifically it is for emergency management in our collegiate high schools.  I was asked by our grant partner if I had any instances of us using an emergency managment grant and the only thing I could think of was Hurricane Charley.

Hurricane Charley was a 2004 storm that was headed for Tampa when it decided to make a sharp right turn over Pine Island and lay waste to Punta Gorda/Port Charlotte.  I remember it vaguely, as I was visiting my dad a year later and saw the devastation (trees, rubble, light poles bent in half, etc.).  I didn't live it though, so my appreciation was more on the level of "Holy Crap."

I asked our Charlotte campus president for information regarding how Hurricane Charley affected our Charlotte campus, as well as the personnel of it. 

What I received made my eyes tear up -- just at the thoughts of total loss. 

I emailed back, thanking her for the documents and telling her I began to appreciate what a hurricane does to an area in a way I had not appreciated before.  She replied back, telling me that her admin assistant was in tears compiling it for me.

Five. Years. Later.

I feel like an ass, a heel, a fool and the worst kind of gawker, knowing that I caused her pain even after all this time.  So the next time you hear of a hurricane, say a prayer for all those involved, as even five years later is too fresh for many.