Saturday, November 05, 2005

I know, I know...It's been awhile!

Hi All:

I know that it has been quite awhile since I last posted but it is with good reason. Hurricane Wilma gave us quite a spanking. I have lived in Florida for 33 years and I have never felt as scared through a storm as I did the morning it hit us. Thankfully we did not sustain any structural damage to the house. We lost trees and screens from our patio. The screen enclosure for the patio also needs to be re-bolted to the house. Our neighborhood was impassable for 2 days due to trees blocking all of roads leading out. 98% of the population of the tri-county area in South Florida was without power and now almost two weeks later about 20% is still without it. We had our power out for five days and phones out a little longer. The financial hit was large as well. Marc had two weeks of gigs cancelled and my real estate business is at a standstill. The properties that were pending to close all need to be re-inspected and appraised before the banks will close them and no new deals are being done because the last things on most peoples minds is real estate and who can blame them. There are a great many people who have lost their homes and their jobs so we feel truly grateful that we are in the position that we are in.

On a positive note...Last weekend we went up to Orlando to meet Justin and his girlfriend Judy for his 21st birthday. Judy also turned 21 the same week. We took my parents up with us and we had a wonderful time to say the least! The picture at the top of the post was taken in The Magic Kingdom at Disney World. Judy is a big Mickey Fan so we waited on line to give her a chance to take a pic with Mickey. The company was great and it was also wonderful to get outta Dodge as they say (South Florida). It also turned out to be perfect timing because we left the area when there were 3-5 hour waits to get gas if you could find an open station and when we got home the lines were gone.

It was so wonderful to see Justin and he looks wonderful and very happy. What more could a mother want!

5 comments:

M3 said...

Hi Lori, welcome back!!! I missed you. Glad the storm damage wasn't worse. It sure sounds frightening.

It looks like Mickey is trying to get a little frisky with Judy...

Stacy said...

Wilma got so little attention but did so much damage. My DH has 4 siblings living in Key West and they all got hit hard. 3 of the 4 lost everything in their homes although the homes are still standing. No one outside of Florida seems to know what happened. I am sorry to hear you had some damage. I hope it will get repaired quickly.

Anonymous said...

Hey Lori - Tell Micky to let go of Judy - I think he is holding her a bit to close for comfort...watch out for sneaky mice! Jane

Lisa~~ said...

Glad to hear that your storm damage was minimal and hopefully everything will be back to normal soon. It has been a rough season but hopefully no more storms for a very long time. Missed you, glad to have you back.

Anonymous said...

What a great getaway! And what a good-looking bunch. It looks like Marc is about to punch Mickey's lights out! lol
Welcome home. Our letter is on the way to GW and now we can wait the endless wait together again... thanks for being there, Lori. :^D
Hugs,
me