A Good Hurricane

 Of Hurricane’s and Waterways

Mike and I live in Florida. I want start by asserting there is more to Florida than “the mouse house” in Orlando. 

Florida is known for access to wonderful sandy beaches…lots of them. Our state is a peninsula. You can easily witness a sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast and take a leisurely drive over to the west coast to view the sunset over the Gulf later that evening. 

But saltwater isn’t the only recreational source of water fun. Florida hosts clear, spring fed, icy cold, and crystal-clear rivers, springs, and chains of freshwater lakes and waterways. I’ve floated in innertubes down some of those spring fed rivers and skied and fished in the freshwater lakes.

The Lake in Floral City a few years ago.

Of course there is more to the state I call home.

Florida is known for the large production of citrus fruit, strawberries, and farm produce. We also host cattle ranches and huge chicken farms. Our economy is far more than tourism. We are suppliers of much of our country’s food. 

Growing up, I would hear native Floridians talk about the hot weather in the summer. “What we need is a good hurricane,” they would say.

A good hurricane? I couldn’t imagine what a good hurricane would look like. To me, hurricanes were synonymous with destruction. Loss. Suffering. 

I was a kid. The only good I could see coming out of the hurricane threat was possibly a day off school. Not that it happened. Not very often, anyway.

I’m older now and I’ve learned a bit more about weather. And life. And this place I call home. 

Hurricanes are part of nature. Yes, they can be destructive. But a good hurricane? A good hurricane as the old timers would call it, was a storm that did minimal damage but brought with it the much-needed rain to elevate the water table and sustain the crops.

Unfortunately, we are in the middle of a drought. We watch the sky and monitor the news in hopes of …well, at least a downpour. 

Mike standing where there should be water.
This past week, Mike and I drove over to a lake where he spent many happy hours of his childhood and teen years on the water. We walked on dry ground in an area where only a few months ago we would have traversed by boat. 

Yep, we need a good hurricane about now.

And if you’d like to read a previous post about the time two special men in my life walked across Florida, CLICK HERE.



Don't think about swinging out on
this rope swing! No water!

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