A post about hurricanes

I can say with absolute certainty that a hurricane changed my life.  Being a California girl, some would look at me with a questioning tilt of their head but it is the absolute truth.  A hurricane changed my life.

The hurricane didn't destroy my home.  It didn't wash away my belongings.  I didn't lose a family member or a friend.  I never lost power.  My car was fine.  I wasn't even evacuated from my home.  All the things you might think of with those words "a hurricane changed my life" didn't happen to me.  They happened to other people.  The devastation from that hurricane was astronomical.  The ripple effects are still being felt today, 7 years later.

Unlike the hurricane that tore apart the lives of so many, the hurricane actually made my life more complete.

• Because of a hurricane I found a passion and a calling I otherwise would have ignored.  
• Because of a hurricane, I made friends in an area I would never have know existed before.  
• Because of a hurricane I have learned how to build stairs, build decks, build ramps, dig post holes, cement in posts (but please, don't ask me to level those stinkin' posts), hang drywall, tear out drywall, mud and tape, silicone holes in siding, scrape paint, pull out really old electrical boxes without swearing, lay peel-and-stick tiles, pull up peel-and-stick tiles and demo houses and structures.  
• Because of a hurricane I can drive you from New Orleans to Waveland without missing a beat.  I know the back way too.
• Because of a hurricane I know what a King Cake tastes like, why po'boys are so addicting and I've ate my way through a pile of crawfish.
• Because of a hurricane I know what a "haint" is and why the porch ceilings in the South are painted blue...and some homes.  
• Because of hurricane I made friends with a man who is as far apart politically from me as he could possibly get and we like each other anyway.  Not just like, I love and deeply respect him and I am pretty sure he would say the same thing about me.  
• Because of a hurricane I came to love an area so much I've actually looked for jobs there.
• Because of a hurricane I have a gold medal.  Un-freakin-believable.
• Because of a hurricane I look at the weather reports a little differently and I definitely pay more attention from June to November.

Yep, I can say with certainty that a hurricane changed my life...for the better.