Twenty years ago, right now, I was sitting at the Bayfront Amphitheater, jamming to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam. The weather was eerily cool for a sunny August day in Miami. A nice breeze flowed through the air during the two days we spent at Lollapolooza. A final summer adventure with all of my closest friends.
We never would have guessed that in a little over 48 hours, our world’s would dramatically change. We would experience a level of horror and destruction unimaginable…
We would meet Andrew.
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| Photo taken from public records. |
From the time I was very young, we were taught to track hurricanes on brown paper bags from Publix. We had a pile of wood behind the house to uses as make-shift shutters. Gallons of bottled water were stacked in the shed and when a hurricane made a viable threat, bath tubs were filled to the brim.
Storms would come and go. Wind would whip up trees and break branches. Electricity would go out for a few days and we would survive. None the worse for what we had been through.
Nothing even remotely compares to Andrew. Even though my home was on the north eastern edge of the worst destruction, the images of Andrew are seared in my mind. The pain. The loss. The suffering. Driving through Miami and seeing nothing where there had been everything. Neighborhoods literally leveled. Worlds collapsed. Homes vanished.
I tried to read/watch some of the 20 Year Anniversary footage that CBS and the Miami Herald put together, but really, it is just too much. I hope that all those who were touched by Andrew have ways to remember this week. Especially with the threat of Issac on the horizon.
Praying peace to all the families of South Florida on the 20 years anniversary of Andrew.
Hi just came across your blog and thought I’d follow along.