A Month of Thanksgiving - Counting Your Blessings

Count your blessings today. No, really count them. Walk around and look at what you have and how many people love you, and be thankful.

Blessing #1 - your city and thousands of people you know and love were not wiped away by a monster storm. 

I know from experience with major hurricanes just what kind of desperation there is in these islands. Growing up in SC, I've seen entire houses washed into the ocean. I've driven down tree-strewn roads, dodging power lines to find out if a close friend was dead or alive after Charley hit SW Florida in 2004. My aunt and uncle walked 5 miles down the dirt road to their house, climbing over downed 100-year-old oak trees, after Hugo, not knowing if their 100+ year old house would still be standing. It was damaged, but it was there.

You can never know what it's like until you see it.

Entire neighborhoods, just gone. Red Xs on doors to  signal that someone was found dead in the house. People picking through what is left of their lives, which is now just a pile of rubble. It is so heart wrenching and frightening to think about how lucky you are that the eye of the storm missed your town by five measly miles. 26,400 feet separate you from complete destruction.

I found my friend picking through clothes in her nearly-devastated mobile home where she and her husband had huddled in the bathtub praying not to die while trees fell all around outside. Through some unknown miracle, none hit the mobile home where she and her husband lay crying and terrified. We fell into each other's arms sobbing.

On my way home, there was a wreck on the interstate, so I was redirected through one of the hardest hit sections of Port Charlotte. It took me 30 minutes to drive the 3 miles down that road, and I cried the whole way. Nine years later, there are still vacant lots where homes and businesses once stood. Punta Gorda, FL (ground zero) is a small town, with a lot of historic buildings that are now gone forever. Life goes on, but for the survivors, those empty lots are a constant reminder of the night that changed their lives forever.

In 2004, 4 major hurricanes and a few tropical storms and minor hurricanes devastated the entire state of Florida. I was lucky. My house and everyone I loved were safe and alive. But some were not so lucky, and seeing the devastation throughout the state on a trip to SC when Ivan threatened humbled me. All those feelings of loss and helplessness come back every time something like this affects another area, be it storms, fires, floods, or tornadoes.

Please help the Philippines if you can, and if you can't, just pray or send energy or whatever it is you do when something horrible happens. Yes, we can make the argument that there are people hurting at home, but trust me, this is worse. Much, much worse. Compare losing $36 in food stamps to digging through rubble looking for something to eat, something to feed your family. Count your blessings, because no matter how angry we get at our government, most of us have it better than so many other people.