205: Ber was hit by a flying tree
What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.
Resilience in the Storm
This chapter narrates a profound personal experience involving a severe injury and the accompanying emotional turmoil. It weaves together themes of love, loss, and community resilience as neighbors unite to assist each other in the aftermath of a devastating storm.
Here in Florida, we know about hurricanes.
My wife Jeanne and I will never forget Hurricane Elena back in 1985. That storm came into the Gulf of Mexico and just hovered offshore. There were instructions to evacuate because of the danger of high winds and flooding.
What made it interesting for us is that Jeanne was pregnant with our first child, and she was at full term. So while everyone else was either leaving town or getting to a safe place, we evacuated to the hospital. That was on Saturday, August the 31st and that’s when our baby was born. Everyone said if it was a girl we should choose the name Elena, after the hurricane. Instead, our son’s name is David.
A few months ago, in the hurricane season of 2024, we had Hurricane Milton to deal with. Since it was headed directly for where we live, we left town with our dogs and spent the week up in Jacksonville. We came back and discovered that, unlike some other people, we had no damage and no flooding.
But not everyone fared that well. My guest today is Ber. She lives about an hour or so from me, in a rural part of Florida called Dade City. She’s been through lots of hurricanes. But after what happened to her with Hurricane Milton, she probably won’t go venturing outdoors at the height of the storm any more.
Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here:
https://WhatWasThatLike.com/205
(for the pictures of Ber’s injuries, you will need to go to that URL and scroll all the way down – past the transcript – to see them. They are graphic.)
Ber’s GoFundMe page:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-ambers-recovery-and-farm-restoration
Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai.
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