Greetings:<br />I have only been on this board for a little more than a year and I really don't post much. I am a native Floridian and am 37 years old. All my life here in Florida the weather gurus kept warning us of the big one - as in the big Hurricane. This August and September have been wild. We have had a ton of rain prior to Charley and Frances.<br /><br />The central Florida area has now experienced hurricane force winds twice in 3 weeks and we are bracing for Ivan early next week. We have been told things like this are cyclical and I guess we are getting our share of hurricanes after so many years without one in our area. You have to go back to the early 1900s to see so many strikes in our part of the state.<br /><br />The good news is this. We are meeting our neighbors here in Central Florida many for the first time. We are helping each other out and lending hands to people across the tracks and in communities that we would not set foot in.<br /><br />My wife and I sheltered a total of 15 people including 4 of our seniors 75 & over in our home during Frances for 5 days. The winds can blow, property destroyed, but it seems that the more we take in hits, the more our community grows in spirit. It is ashame that it takes a hurricane to blow our walls down to be able meet one another and reach out to our neighbors, but it is the silver linning in the clouds.<br /><br />As for Ivan, well if it comes, it comes and we will be part of weather history. Either way, we will come out of it for the better I think.<br />Keep safe
