Thoughts from a Parishioner

In the blink of an eye

Sue Carvalho

           When I see the saying “in the blink of an eye your life can change” you never really know what it means until it happens to you. September 28,2022, Hurricane Ian , a category 4 hurricane, hit Southwest Florida and we were directly impacted in Punta Gorda where we have a home in a 55 plus community. All the homes are manufactured so it is prone to damage in a hurricane. It was hit hard previously by Hurricane Charlie. We had a pretty stressful twenty-four hours, as we waited to see how we were going to fair the storm. Our park posted on Facebook videos and pictures as the hurricane eye passed through and once the hurricane went through, they posted pictures of the final devastation. We have been through hurricanes, snow storms and other forces of nature but nothing like this. We lost our car port and lanai but thankfully we had no leaks inside the home. We were stressed to the max waiting to drive down to truly assess the damage. Debris everywhere...everywhere, and when we first took a look, we felt sad and happy at the same time. Happy we had a home to live in but sad that the two seasons of work we did we now had to redo part of it.

           Through this process one of the things that I kept saying to myself was “What would Shirley do?”. Shirley and her husband Bob lost their home and all its contents to a house fire several years ago. They had to rebuild from scratch and in doing so they lived in a trailer that was parked on their property. I always admired how they handled the situation. They embraced the community that wanted to help them and learned to accept help. I never heard Shirley or Bob say “Why did this happen to me?”. That is why during the rebuilding after Hurricane Ian, I ask myself “What would Shirley do?” The community where we have our manufactured home in is amazing. They constantly kept us updated on the progress of the storm and when we arrived back a couple weeks ago the first thing we received were hugs from our neighbors. The following morning when we went outside to start cutting away the debris, within minutes, our neighbors were there to help. Within hours the clean-up was done. My brother and sister-in-law had delivered dinner so I didn't have to cook or shop for dinner. The power of community.

           It has been a couple of weeks and I am amazed at the resiliency of our community and the people in Southwest Florida. Neighbor helping neighbor, stranger helping neighbor. In a blink of an eye your life can change forever. We get up every day and try to be productive searching for reputable contractors and taking care of minor repairs. We also make sure not to stay isolated. We reach out to our neighbors and ask them if they are OK…. they aren’t, we aren’t, but every day gets a little better. What would Shirley do? Shirley would keep going forward, she would still help her community, she would be thankful for what she does have, and most importantly she would know it will turn out OK.

           God only gives us burdens we can bear, a statement I always thought was ludicrous. I have seen others go through burdens that I know God didn’t want them to bear, but they did. I don’t really know the hand God plays when something like Ian happens but I do know that I feel better when I go to church, stay connected to my community and give thanks for all that I do have. What will Shirley do, what will Sue do and what will you do? Amen.