Post Hurricane Ian

I am finally back at our paradise in Fort Myers. It has been over a month since Hurricane Ian came through here. I have to say, we are so very lucky and feel very blessed. Our place lost LOTS of shingles, some siding, and we had river water in our garage....only up to the first step. No water in the house. We have a cracked window and our garage door needs some work. We still have all our belongings, we just have some cleaning up to do, a window to replace and a garage door to fix. Again, we are very lucky....Our neighbors did a lot of the work for us, since we weren't here....Neighbors helping Neighbors....I'm hearing a lot of that in all of this.

My heart is aching for so many others here....I have many friends who have lost absolutely everything, all their belongings, cars....but they all have been so resilient, ready to tear things out and start over. If you know me, I'm a fixer, I just want to fix it all for them, obviously I can't, but I'm going to do what I can, whatever that may be. Our beloved Community House took quite the hit as well, It has been gutted and walls removed and ready to start again. Some of our Shellcrafter supplies and things we made were saved, but so many of my friends, the workers may not be able come back, and if we do, when? The Shell Show has been canceled for this year, and so many are just trying to make their homes a home again, a place to live and a place to start over. I'm afraid some won't, they may just walk away, broken hearted! My heart just aches for them all. Hoping they can find that something special among the rubble to give them some hope....any hope! I've spent a lot of time messaging and/or talking with them, trying to find the words....of comfort, support...help.

This part of Florida will come back, but it will never be the same, I just have to believe it will come back better ....and stronger!

I have a blog buddy, who I have never met in person, we follow each others blogs and have communicated for years... he talked about the loss of paradise in his last post (RC is Me), the whole post really spoke to me but especially his last paragraph:

"So for all of you that may be feeling a little like paradise is lost at the moment remember those memories that made you fall in love with her in the first place.  While none of us will be here forever the memories we pass down can.  Given time to recover and heal she’ll welcome us back again."

I'm sure I will have some adventures to share while I'm here, I will keep you posted....Until them, hug your loved ones, and appreciate every thing around you!!

::Shelllady Hugs::

I took these on Sanibel, my last day there in August...something told me to turn around and take these pictures.... 

This is borrowed from a post on facebook, taken since Ian....