Most of our year is spent in flip flops since we are sunbirds and chase the sun. Many people love putting on their flip flops, going to the beach and putting their toes in the sand. So take the time this summer to put on your flip flops and make some amazing memories!
Some of the best memories are made in flip-flops.”
— Kellie Elmore
Photo by Ridwan Muhamad Iqbal on Unsplash
I am sure you have heard about Hurricane Ian and the devastation the storm caused all over the state of Florida on September 28, 2022. The eye went right over Cape Coral and Fort Myers was right in the path of destruction. I remember being in Richmond, Virginia when Hurricane Gaston came through. It was windy, and we lost power for 10 days. Of course, we bought a generator but never used it!
Gaston gave Richmond so much rain that our historic downtown was flooded. Downtown Richmond is called Shockhoe Bottom because it is at the bottom of two hills. The area had over six feet of water in restaurants, businesses, and houses. Cars were floating all over the place and then landed on top of each other. People needed to be rescued from their cars, apartments, and bridges. It was one of the saddest things I had seen.
Hurricane Ian started unfolding September 24th. I was in Virginia Beach for a wedding and I was going to fly to Florida on Monday. Jeff was going to meet me there Wednesday to check on the house and clean the boat. My mom had been watching the weather and suggested we not go because of the potential storm. We agreed, and I headed back to Pennsylvania after the wedding weekend.
At first, we were concerned about our friends and family in the Tampa area, but then the storm turned south, and we became very concerned about our friends, family, and our home in Fort Myers. My Valentine and I were in our summer home watching Hurricane Ian unfold on our TV.
My husband was pretty relaxed at first. He has been through a few hurricanes and said the news always talks about storm surges and wind. He said storm surge never happens. Even though we thought things would be okay we had our son take a few things inside and asked our friends to go over and help tie up the boat. Our son was going to Cape Coral with his buddies and our other son came to North Fort Myers to stay with his mom.
As we watched on the screen we were horrified at how huge this storm was building up to be. It was strong and slow and was heading right for us. I was nervous and wasn’t sure what was going to happen. We were able to talk with a few friends and family members until the power went out but then all we could do was watch. We still have a few cameras set up around the house from our caregiving days, and we watched as our new pool door kept swinging open and then slamming closed. Around 3 pm, our power went out. We stayed in touch with the neighbors for another couple of hours, but we didn’t want to drain their phone batteries. We just wanted to know what was going on but all we had was the storm coverage.
We received this picture of the street straight out from our house. The neighbors said the whole neighborhood was flooded with about four feet of water which meant our house house was surrounded by water. Then we lost touch with everyone and just had to start praying that everyone was going to be ok.
The next morning we were able to get in touch with our son and Jeff’s dad. They said the storm was crazy and the scariest thing they had been through. Our son went back to our house and called us. Water was still halfway up our driveway and in our backyard, our garage doors were pushed open, and the garage was in disarray. He said, “You guys need to get here NOW!” I was scared of what we were going to come home to.
We booked a flight out of Cleveland into Fort Myers but it was canceled. So we got one out of Pittsburgh into Fort Lauderdale. Our friend’s daughter picked us up along with her mom who was able to get a flight out of Cleveland. The normal two-hour ride from Lauderdale to Fort Myers seemed like it took forever. Traffic was heavy and everyone was stopping for gas and other supplies.
We got to our house and opened the garage door. Wow. We just kind of stood there in disbelief. My car and our son’s friend’s car were trashed. Paddle boards were lifted and landed in awkward positions. Trash cans were full of water. Trash was spilled from the bags. There was half an inch of soot and dirt and muck covering everything. There were still two inches of water in my car.
We didn’t know where to start. We couldn’t even clear a path to get into the house. So we just got straight to work. Thank goodness our friends and their daughter were with us. They had clear minds and weren’t emotionally attached to our stuff so they just started pulling things out of our garage one by one. We made piles of things to be saved and things to go in the trash. The things to save had to be power-washed and sanitized. But it was a start. We only did one-half of the garage that day. But what a long day it was.
Even though we were exhausted we felt blessed. Our neighbors down each of our side streets had 46 inches of water throughout their whole house. We had 46 inches of water in our garage and about 18 inches in our entryway. Our house and our pool happened to be on a 48-inch cement block. We were two inches away from destruction. I couldn’t even imagine where we would have started if our whole house looked like our garage did.
At the end of the day, we were covered in mud. We were exhausted physically and emotionally. Even though we considered ourselves blessed and lucky to only have the mess in the garage and our front entryway, we still couldn’t believe it.
On day two we continued cleaning. We finished up the garage and got the entryway clean. We felt we were in a decent spot. We worked on our yard then we started helping our neighbors. We power-washed driveways, pool decks, and inside of people’s homes. We cut and dragged out wet heavy carpet. We pulled people’s washers, dryers, refrigerators, bedroom sets, TVs, tables, chairs, and clothes to the curb. There was no saving of anything. it all needed to be removed and need to be taken to the curb.
The crazy thing was that people would come around and ask or just take it from the garbage pile. More power to them is they can fix it but these tools had been covered in water for at least 48 hours. It helped us get rid of the pile in our house so we said take it!
As we talked with more and more neighbors we realized how devastating this storm was. Three of our neighbors stayed. One was in a one-story, and he was wading in water for over 12 hours. He slept on top of his truck because he didn’t know where else to go. How horrifying. We heard of other stories of people swimming from one house to another. Or rescuing people who were floating by. It made me thankful that we were not in Fort Myers at the time of the storm.
What I did notice was how the whole neighborhood came together. Everyone got done what they could in their homes then they were all out on the street helping each other. Helping each other move or lift furniture, helping each other power wash the garage floor, pool deck, or driveway, and helping each other return items to their rightful owner after digging it out from the rubbish pile left behind. Then at the end of the day we all came together to sit on the back deck and have a beer. I guess in every storm there is a silver lining. People helping people was an inspiring sight to see.
Happy Birthday, America! Today, we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Our forefathers fought for our freedoms and today we recognize our lucky we are to live in the United States of America.
Most of us will celebrate by having the day off of work. We will eat hamburgers and hot dogs because that’s the American way. We will probably have a beer or two to celebrate the day off and the freedom we have to have a beer anytime we want to.
For the past two years, my Prince and I celebrated July 4th with friends on Lake Anna in Virginia. They have a wonderful fireworks display every year, and we were blessed enough to be out on a boat looking up at these amazing lights.
This year we also spent the holiday weekend on the water. Our friends took us out on their boat Saturday and out on jet skies on Sunday. This time we were in the great state of Wisconsin. We got to experience the water of Green Bay and saw the vastness of Lake Michigan. It is amazing how big the Great Lakes are.
The shoreline around Green Bay was amazing. It was full of rocks, limestone, cliffs and beautiful houses. My Rock and I had a great time on the water. I had not been on water skies in over 30 years, but I was able to pop right up! It makes me appreciate our lifestyle. We try to eat well and stay in shape (make sure you check out my recipes and workouts) so that we can do these activities even if we only get the opportunity once every few years!
Overall, our time in Green Bay was pretty amazing. We saw some great sunsets, had some good laughs, and spent some quality time with friends. We saw Egg Harbor, Door County, Fish Creek, as well as other stops along the way. Thank you friends for the wonderful weekend!
If you haven’t heard, last Thursday we started our trek out west where we will spend some time in Park City, Utah. We spent Thursday night in Chicago and then the weekend in Green Bay. Yesterday, we drove to Lincoln, Nebraska where we saw fireworks going off all along the water. The displays went on forever. Today, we will continue our drive and celebrate our independence somewhere in Wyoming. Hopefully we can find a wonderful fireworks display tonight.
I wish you all a safe and happy holiday! Celebrate and appreciate the independence that we have.
This week my niece will be graduating from fifth grade. It is so hard to believe. It seems like just last week she was born and yesterday she was starting kindergarten. But here we are six years of school already completed and the first graduation is upon us.
My sister and I grew up in a town where we went to elementary school from Kindergarten through sixth grade. Then middle school and high school were in the same building. Therefore, you graduated from sixth grade and twelfth grade. That was it. Only two graduations.
It makes me sad that my sister isn’t here to watch her baby walk down her first aisle of many. It makes me sad that she won’t be there to hug her princess and tell her how proud she is of her. So I thought I would try to let my niece know how much she is loved. I was able to go to Virginia last week, and I spent some time with my niece having lunch and giving her a few graduation gifts.
If you know me, you know I enjoy taking pictures and then making books and calendars. I use Snapfish and have for years. I love the company and the products. I make the kids a book of memories every year for their birthdays. And every year for Christmas I make the members of our families a calendar to hang on their wall. Therefore, I thought it would be a fun idea to make my niece a book of her first 10 years of memories for her graduation.
In this book, I also included some younger pictures of my sister and myself. I wanted my niece to see how cute we were 🙂 when we were younger and how fun the clothing and hair styles were! It was fun yet sad to look back on all the pictures of my sis and me. Man, did it make me miss her.
I do hope my niece cherishes the book. She may not understand all that it means. Right now she wants to be a kid who plays softball, who swims, who smiles, who dances and who doesn’t necessarily want to think about missing her mom. Maybe she just wants to be a kid who is normal. And I am proud of her for being that kid. But as she gets older I hope she realizes how special her mother was. And I hope she will look back on the memories that are shared with her, and she will smile and treasure all that there are.
Photo by Jason Dent on Unsplash
This quote is so true. I learned in my educational leadership classes that you will never be able to make everyone happy. Someone out there will ALWAYS criticize you for your actions. Stay true to your heart and don’t let what others say bother you one bit!
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right―for you’ll be criticized anyway.”
―Eleanor Roosevelt
Photo by Khadeeja Yasser on Unsplash
What are you made of? What circumstances do you face and what are your reactions? Many people can face the same things but have very different reactions and outcomes to those circumstances. Don’t be afraid of boiling water. Be who you are meant to be no matter what you face.
“The same boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It’s what you’re made of. Not the circumstances.”
—Unknown
Photo by René Porter on Unsplash
There is so much to learn every single day. Be smart and take the opportunity to learn something new from those around you. What can you learn? What does someone else do that can make your life easier? Why pretend you have all the answers? Life is a journey. Enjoy the ride and learn from those around you.
“Smart people learn from everything and everyone, average people from their experiences, stupid people already have all the answers.” —Socrates
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
A few weeks ago, I wrote about all the wonderful girlfriends in my life. I have known most of these women for a long time. Therefore, we have been through several stages of life together. We have gone through elementary school, the awkward middle school years, the fun high school years, and then into adulthood. Some of us got married, some had children, and some of us went to college. Sometimes we went our separate ways, but eventually, we found our way back into each other’s lives.
These women are some of the toughest women I know. They aren’t afraid to take chances. They aren’t afraid to go somewhere by themselves. They aren’t afraid to try new things. I have found that almost all of my closest friends pride themselves on being independent and being able to take care of themselves and their families.
As we go through life we learn lessons whether by choice or by circumstance. Even my girlfriends who are married still have a sense of independence. One of my best friends tells her husband, “I don’t NEED you, I WANT you by my side.” Isn’t that how it should be? Many of us don’t NEED each other. We like having people by our side. We like having companionship. We like having someone to talk to in the morning. But if someone wasn’t there somehow we would survive. Maybe we would have to work a little harder to get where we want to go, but we’d figure it out.
Sometimes it’s hard to compromise and allow yourself to be taken care of, especially if you have been single for a long time or if you have had to do a lot of things on your own. You learned how to make your own money, you learned how to unclog your own toilet, and you learned how to smash that big bug on your floor. So once you take that step and say “I do” you have to learn the art of compromise and communication to make that marriage work. I have known many people who are married yet very lonely.
As you know it took me a while to find My Prince. What I was afraid of was giving up my independence or losing myself. The best thing about being a Pilot’s Wife is when he goes to work for long periods of time I need to make decisions about household items, I need to fix things that may break, and I need to kill little creatures who try to invade our home. But when he is home, he gets to squash the bugs, handle the decisions, and fix the things that have gone wrong.
What I see in all of us women is sometimes a dilemma. Many of us were independent women for a period of time. We developed our routine, we became set in our ways, and we learned how to be alone and not lonely.
Eventually what we need to learn is how to let others take care of us. Sometimes it’s so hard and because we were so independent we see this as weak. We know we can do all of it on our own. Why would we need help? We don’t need anyone to put gas in our car. We don’t need anyone to help us run the power tools. We don’t need anyone to get the glass on the top shelf for us.
But what we need to learn is that it is okay to let another person treat us right. It is okay for your husband to wash your car for you. It is okay for your friend to take your car and fill it with gas. It is okay for your partner to get that glass down that you couldn’t reach without a step stool.
Even though it’s hard we need to learn grace. We also need to realize that we all are getting older. We all may face a point in time when we are not physically able to take care of ourselves. We need to learn that is okay to ask for help and it is okay to let someone else do things for us. We need to let these generous humans take care of us. It’s what they truly want to do. Sometimes we need to let our significant others treat us like the princesses we dreamed we were destined to become when we were little.
So the next time your partner offers to make you a cup of coffee in the morning say, “Wow babe, that would be awesome, thank you” instead of channeling your independent self and saying, “No, that’s okay I can do it.” Allowing yourself to be spoiled from time to time doesn’t make you less of an independent woman. Let’s learn to find that balance because someday even if we don’t want to, we may need to rely on others for help.
Photo by Doug Tunison on Unsplash
I just enjoyed my second trip to Hawaii! The first time I spent two days in Maui-one with friends and one with my hubby- and three days in Honolulu with my Prince. This time My Rock and I spent three days in Maui and two in Honolulu.
On our first trip together we did many touristy activities. He took me to Pearl Harbor and a Luau. We went to Waikiki Beach and the Royal Hawaiin Hotel. We hiked 13 Crossings as well as another trail. We saw sea turtles, beautiful beaches, and amazing sunsets.
Jeff is getting more senior in his job so he is able to hold some amazing trips. The Hawaii trips are some of the best. They stay oceanside at a great hotel called the Andaz in Maui. Although it’s a long day of flying for me for just a few days, it’s totally worth it!
This is only the fourth time I’ve been able to meet him on a layover in the six years we have been together. Many times the layovers are too short or too far away. Even though we had to cancel some plans which I feel terrible about, we decided to have a mini belated Birthday adventure together in Hawaii. I flew on Delta from Fort Myers to Atlanta to Los Angeles to Kahului. I arrived in Maui around 9 pm. I was exhausted after a long travel day but was able to check in and get some sleep.
We woke up the next day and decided to take a walk along the beach. It’s so beautiful there. We had a little bite to eat and decided to make Friday a day of rest and lounging by the pool. That afternoon we went to Maui Brewing Company for a few beers. What a great brewery that is! I highly recommend it. We came home early and went to bed.
The next day we worked out and decided to borrow a truck from our friends who live in Hawaii. We started driving on the Road to Hana. I was nervous at first but we didn’t go all the way to Hana and although the road was windy and single lane at some points, it was fine. We stopped a few times and hiked. We did the Waikamoi Ridge Trail, Twin Falls, and one other in Ko’olau-West Makaiwa. The bamboo in the forests was awesome and the waterfalls are beautiful. What a wonderful place.
On our way back we stopped at Mama’s Fish House. Jeff’s aunt recommended it, and we read that it can take 6 months to get a reservation. Someone told us to ask to sit at the bar. We pulled in and even though the sign said “Bar Full”, the valet said there are some spaces, come on in. We were so excited. The restaurant is right on the water. It has amazing woodwork throughout and is welcoming and quaint. The food was absolutely delicious. I had Kanpachi and Jeff had toothfish. Sooooo good!
Then we stopped in a little town called Paia. Ululani’s was another recommended spot for Hawaiian shave ice. It was good but not sure shave ice is my thing. I think I like soft-serve custard like Hank’s Frozen Custard in Northwest Pennsylvania much better. We came back to the hotel and had planned to sit out by the pool but we were so exhausted we fell asleep right away.
Sunday we had a lazy morning of coffee on our patio. We did a CrossFit workout full of pull-ups, push-ups, and squats. Then we went for a walk into Kihei and had Thai food for breakfast. Then we walked back. We headed for the pool and had some delicious Polomas. We then went out for another delicious dinner at Monkeypod Kitchen. It was another early night because my love had to get up for work early that next morning.
I also was getting up early and getting on a Southwest flight from Maui to Honolulu. The flight was quick and easy. Jeff ended up getting delayed and didn’t make it to Honolulu until the early afternoon. The great thing was that two ski club friends were also on a layover so I had some people to hang out with. I did a quick workout and met up with them at the Cream Pot. We had a great breakfast and could bring our own champagne for mimosas. We then walked around a bit and went to the Harbor Pub. Eventually, we made it back to the hotel and met up with my hubby.
We went back to Waikiki Beach and enjoyed the warm weather. After a few hours, we headed back to the hotel so we could get ready and be on time for the amazing happy hour upstairs on the 36th floor of Ala Moana Hotel. There was already a line when we got back but we could go from our rooms and that we did. Our friends got a table, and we enjoyed some great steaks and meals.
Our friends had to go to bed early but Jeff and I managed to get two seats at the piano. We chatted with the piano player and listened to some great music. It was the perfect ending to our trip. Jeff had to leave the next morning but we had some Starbucks together. I enjoyed a few more hours by the pool, had a quick cold shower, and walked around the Ala Moana Center for some last-minute shopping.
All in all, my two trips to Hawaii have been pretty amazing. Even though we live in Florida and it’s like going from one paradise to another, it’s a different kind of paradise. The water is a beautiful blue, the scenery is breathtaking, and the food is delicious.
As the years go on we realize we can’t go back. We’ve made choices. We now have to live with those choices. We may not be able to change the outcome of the choice we made but we can choose to make the next choice one we won’t regret.
“You can’t turn back the clock. But you can wind it up again.”
—Bonnie Prudden
Photo by Dmitry Mashkin on Unsplash