People Get Ready

I really thought that hurricane Helene would be the last major hurricane of the season. The destruction that it caused was massive and I couldn’t imagine that we would have to worry about another storm this late into October. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Hurricane Milton is supposed to make landfall later this week as a category three storm. Although it will not cause the destruction that Helene did north of us, it does look like a pretty nasty storm for our area.

With the storm making national news and the map showing it going right through Ocala, I had gotten a lot of texts and phone calls from friends and family to make sure that we were ready. I really appreciated everybody’s concern. As this was our fourth major hurricane since we moved here last August, getting ready for a hurricane was not quite as scary as it was the first time. Thus today, I was happy that I could text this to everyone:

“It is amazing to me how prepared the state of Florida is for hurricanes. We have been getting warnings all day. Ocala will have wind gusts up to 80 mph and 8-12 inches of rain. We have our hurricane pack ready, cars fueled, battery operated generator charged, will bring in all of the outside furniture Tuesday and fill the tub with water on Wednesday. Doug's work is closer to Orlando so they will get hit harder. They are closed on Wednesday and Thursday, so he will be home for the storm. I'm nervous, but we should be fine. Fortunately, we do not have to evacuate. I’ll keep you updated! Thanks for checking!”

I was proud of us for taking it seriously. Phil called tonight to let us know that there was no gas available in our area of town and that I-75 was at a standstill with evacuees. Thus, filling up early and Doug staying in Lake Mary tonight were really good decisions. Once he gets home tomorrow, we are going to treat it like a mini “staycation” complete with movie nights, games and plenty of snacks. Hopefully, my positive attitude works and by Friday morning everything will be back to normal.

A New Relationship with Rain

When we lived in Indiana, my least favorite weather was rain.  I hated it and avoided it with all costs.  Spring rain was the worst as it was usually cold as well. Watching golf matches when it was 40 degrees and rainy was just miserable. Because of this, I complained more about the rain while we were in Syracuse than I ever did snow, ice or even below zero-degree temperatures.

Because of my hatred of rain, I wasn't sure how I would handle moving to Florida.  There is definitely more rain here.  One afternoon this summer, we got four inches in less than two hours.  There are also more storms and an entire rainy season down here.  

Overall, I have been surprised with how well I have adjusted to the rainy weather.  I have a heavy-duty raincoat and carry an umbrella with me on most afternoons during the rainy season.  I even have an umbrella in the garage ready to go in case I need to get to my car when it's storming.  Then of course, there is another umbrella in my car to get back into the garage when it's raining.  I think that one reason that I have adjusted so well to the rain is because it is a small price to pay for the vast amount of sunshine that we have increased in our life since moving.  It also is not as cold when it rains here.  This, Sunday when we were in Gainesville, the temperature never dropped below 70 degrees even though it rained all day. 

The best part about getting used to the rain is that I have been doing more outside in it.  I was able to attend the IU vs Maryland game in the rain.  We could also still visit all of our favorite stops this weekend and even a new brewery without the rain dampening the mood or freezing me out.  Of course, I did have a sweatshirt on when everyone else was wearing short sleeves, but that's a whole other story.  

An Unbelievable Football Season So Far

Today was one of the most exciting football days that I could ever remember, especially for IU fans.  We played Northwestern in Evanston this afternoon with the possibility of going 6-0 for this first time since 1967.  It was supposed to be an easy win for us, but I was nervous all morning.  Northwestern may have been last in the Big Ten standings and we may have been a two-touchdown favorite, but I was too scared to believe it.  

Northwestern's offense played the best that they had all season and hung tight to the Hoosiers throughout the third quarter.  My anxiety was at a ten.  Thankfully, we pulled ahead during the final quarter and our defense made a few stops as well.  IU ended the game with a 42 to 24 victory making them the first FBS team this season to be bowl eligible.  All of the Hoosier fans in our family were ecstatic. Cameron had predicted at the end of last season that we would win 9 games.  We all thought he was crazy, but after today, I believe that it could be a reality.   

IU's win wasn't the only good football news on the night.  First Alabama got beat by an unranked Vanderbilt team, then both Michigan and Tennessee fell to the same fate.  If someone would have told us how the first six weeks of the football season would start, no one would have never believed it.  I can't wait to see what happens next.  

What a Fantastic Week

Doug and I couldn't have asked for a better week at his new job.  He had planned on staying in Longwood a couple of nights but was actually able to come home every evening this week.  The drive wasn't as bad as he had anticipated with this afternoon's commute being the only one that was delayed.  Doug didn't mind that as his new end time on Fridays is 3 p.m.  Thus, he was home by 5 and we were able to make it to Hiatus for dinner by 5:30.  The rest of the night was spent outside on our back patio watching IU soccer and enjoying the beautiful evening.

Doug did have to work for his former company a couple of evenings this week, but nothing like before.  He was able to answer their questions through email up until today.  He offered to meet with them for an hour this afternoon, but that didn't work.  He said that he would make time one evening next week.  I didn't complain since they are paying him for the month.  Plus, he knew that there would be situations that would need his attention after he left.

In all honesty, I actually felt like we were on vacation this week.  Doug was in a great mood.  I was able to finish all of my cleaning and decorating for Halloween.  Doug and I ordered out several times.  We caught up on the current episodes of Law & Order and even took a few walks at night.  It was so nice and relaxing.  Doug and I both noticed a huge difference in his stress level, and overall, it was one of my favorite weeks in Florida since Cameron left for his sophomore year at IU.  

Life Lessons

Now that Meg is married and Brett has become engaged, I have thought a lot about them joining a new family.  Meg changed her last name to Yoder, which at first seemed strange, but definitely made sense.  I loved becoming a Heinisch.  It wasn't about being a member of another family, but more about becoming a family with Doug.  It was the greatest decision that I could make as we loved creating a family together.  

In becoming parents, we looked to what we saw around us and modeled what we thought was best.  Just like most young couples, that meant blending our families' parenting styles to create our own unique way of parenting.  The majority of time it worked well, but there were still some rough spots.  Cal and Meg have told us that we were way too soft on Cameron, but sometimes I think that all of the experience that we gained with the other three made parenting him easier.  Cameron would say that he was just way better behaved. True to his personality Brett sides with none of them.  No matter who is correct, the one thing in life that I am most proud of is raising my children.  They are not perfect, but they are self-sufficient, happy and successful.

Over the years, Doug's dad had told me that he could have "taken parenting lessons from us."  It was a nice compliment, but always made me feel uncomfortable.  It wasn't what he said, it was the fact that I couldn't be honest with him.  If my dad had said that I would have told him what I thought he did well as a father and what he could do to continue to support me as an adult.  He may have debated my opinion, but I know that he would have at least listened to what I had to say.  I didn't know Doug's dad well enough to be honest, and I really didn't think that he would listen to me.

During the last couple of years, I have regretted that I didn't take the time to say something long ago.  It may have made it easier to express my opinion now and be brutally honest.  Yesterday, when Aunt Jan asked me how Doug's new job was going and told me that she had been thinking about him all week, I realized that Doug's dad had never contacted him once about it.  He knew that Doug had really been struggling with the hours of his job at Champion and the stress that it was causing him.  For a while, he seemed to be concerned.  He even offered to help Doug if he had to take a job that paid less.  He sent him a letter saying that financial help would be given.  It would come out of his inheritance and wouldn't be a loan.  When Doug asked him about it after he got a new job, he changed the parameters.  It became a loan with interest and if it happened, his dad would no longer be able to give a yearly gift to Doug's brothers.  Thankfully, I was able to refigure our budget and Doug was able to decline the help for now.  Doug didn't want a loan or to take away from his siblings.  He just thought that his dad wanted to help him out of concern for his well-being.

I thought a lot about Doug's situation and was glad that we had chosen a different path with our children.  We dedicated our lives to helping them, first while we were raising them and now with emotional support when needed.  That support has no limits, no judgements and no questions asked. Even if we can't pay for their expenses anymore, we can help them look for a new job, listen to their problems, share in their joys, hold their hands when their heart is breaking and provide advice when asked.  

The last time I talked to Doug's dad, he told me that he wished that his boys were advocates for him like his cousins were for their parents.  I didn't know what to say at the time, but I now realize that relationships with adult children start well before they leave the home.  When Cameron graduated from Bethany, I told our children that they now were old enough to make their own choices on the type of relationship that they had with their parents, grandparents and siblings.  I am so proud of the fact that they have remained close to the family members that were the most involved in their lives when they were growing up.  I also love that we hear from all of them multiple times a week.  It took a lot of work to raise them, but well worth the rewards they give us.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

Headphones Make Cleaning A Lot Easier

I had been so busy helping Doug look for a new job during the month of September, that I hadn't really had time to thoroughly clean our house.  The pain in my leg hadn't helped and I really only kept up with the day-to-day cleaning.  With Doug starting his new job this week and my leg feeling a lot better, I decided that it was the perfect time for some deep cleaning.  I started with the front of the house on Monday and moved on to the inside yesterday.  Today, I worked the hardest, cleaning both bathrooms, the kitchen and the tile floors.  Once I dust, vacuum and wash the windows tomorrow, I should be done.

As boring and exhausting as cleaning is, it was made much better today by the fact that I was able to use my headphones to talk to several people.  Meg and Cameron both called to fill me in on their days.  I caught up with my mom and was glad to hear that she was feeling a lot better.  I even talked to one of the women at CCW for a while this morning.  She wanted to update me on several items and asked me to help with a few projects.  Once the phone calls stopped, I used my headphones to listen to the Purple Rain Rewatchable on Spotify.  Thankfully, my headphones made the afternoon go by incredibly fast and cleaning not quite so bad.  

Being Friendly Never Hurt

Several years ago, Meg told me that "I speak Blue Collar."  Although that sounded funny, I knew exactly what she meant.  I had grown up and taught in a community with all different socio-economic backgrounds.  I had become accustomed to talking to all types of people.  As our neighborhood changed over the years, I remained friendly to those who moved in no matter what lifestyle they led.  It wasn't a conscience choice; I had just learned long ago that being friendly never hurt.  

I know that not everyone in my community felt the same way, but once we moved to Florida, I was amazed at how friendly everyone was in Ocala.  People that I didn't know would stop me at the store just to say that they liked what I was wearing, and everyone in our neighborhood waved and smiled when we walked by their homes.  Over the past two years, every person that we had come to our home to work had been nice and helpful.

That friendly feeling went away this morning.  I had hired a handyman to repair the lights in our kitchen.  I had read a lot of reviews on Google before I called him and was positive that he would be the perfect fit for the projects that we needed to have completed.  I thought that choosing him to do our lights first would be a great way to get to know him and to schedule him for future work.  After five minutes of dealing with him, I realized that I was wrong.  He was the opposite of friendly and spent most of his time talking down to me.  I felt humiliated after he left our home.  Meg reminded me that at least I got my lights fixed and that I would never have to deal with him again.  

Even with Meg's advice, it took me awhile to feel better.  Thankfully, the hairdresser that I tried at Great Clips later in the day made up for his poor behaviors.  I hadn't had my hair cut by anyone but Amanda for at least ten years.  I knew that I wouldn't be back in Syracuse until Thanksgiving and couldn't wait that long.  The hairdresser was very understanding, gave me a great haircut and recommended several ways to improve the health of my hair.  Even the woman who waxed my eyebrows was friendlier than the handyman and English was not her first language.  In the end, I did feel better and decided to just remain friendly even if it was not reciprocated.  It couldn't hurt.