Facing the Storm
I lost everything I had to Hurricane Andrew. As I live in the Florida Keys and Irma descends upon us there were periods of being totally frozen with fear amongst moments of clarity. The house is boarded up and hopefully it will still be standing and the roof on when I return. I keep praying, along with tens of thousands, hoping the good Lord will send a front and push her away. Yes, I evacuated along with my 21 year old cat. Determining what to take is difficult. Do I take the family heirlooms? Do I take survival supplies? Do I take the painting I just did? Do I take my favorite art and other things? One thing I did learn in the past - that when faced with such intense trauma, return of my storm PTSD (courtesy of Andrew) and rebuilding that my art helped keep me sane. So the first thing I packed were my brushes, my paints and my strada easel. It was so hard to leave so much behind ... as I opted on basic supplies I will need in the aftermath, a suitcase of clothes and my electronics (laptop, iPad and iMac)--- It took over 12 hours in gridlock to get to my evacuation point. I am emotionally drained and so scared/depressed all I want to do is sleep and hope it goes away. I feel like I don't know how I will survive going thru it again. I sit here and have periods of such incredible depression I can't breath... yet at my friends home in the country as I find myself looking at the hummingbirds and butterflies at the feeder, the live oaks and the shadows they cast I catch myself having thoughts of "wouldn't that be a beautiful painting" -- God's help and those basic art supplies will help see me through.
