Chris WiegmanCrunch week is here.
It’s not because of work (though that is exceptionally busy currently too) and not because of any personal thing but because of mother nature.
As I write this Tropical Storm Ian is churning in the Caribbean and promising to explode to a major hurricane over the next day or two and, at least according to most of the models (and the rest of them are starting to agree), turns right into us here in Florida. It has the potential to be very bad.
History doesn’t matter
When I was a kid we dealt with storms around Panama City where my family still owns a beach condo. There were some big storms but, the building is still standing and, frankly we didn’t think much of them.
I remember Danny approaching us on Maui too. At the time it was thought to be a major hurricane. We didn’t even stop flying though and I never thought much of it.
Since moving to Sarasota, that’s a whole different story. The storms legit terrify me for a number of reasons the first, and biggest, being that past history of storms has absolutely nothing to do with the potential of future storms.
Sarasota likes to think it’s protected by magic. There’s a few local legends that Sarasota is safe from storms due to the spirits of the natives who used to live here.
It’s bullshit.
Sarasota has gotten lucky in modern times simply because of geography and, at some point, that luck is absolutely going to run out. I don’t want to be here for that.
Remote work for the win
Beyond safety the other fact is that we both work remote and a major storm, even if the house still stands, could be a problem in many other ways. With Irma in 2017 we went without power for 2 weeks and that was barely hurricane weather.
This is Florida. We don’t have Fall and the temperatures are still where most folks would expect at the height of summer. No power means no A/C which will be hard on us and our older pets.
Also, no power means no work. I have a couple of very busy weeks ahead and disappearing won’t help anyone on my team.
In the end, I work remotely for a reason. When it comes right down to it I have the privilege of being able to pick up and work from anywhere. It’s time I make use of that both to do what needs to be done in the coming weeks and, simply, to help ensure the safety of my family.
I’m tired
All that said, I’m tired.
I’m tired of the crippling anxiety hurricane season brings me every year.
I’m tired of the relentless heat 8 months or more of the year.
I’m tired of all the other issues in Florida that make living here the single worst place I’ve lived in my life.
It’s been a long, hard summer for me already. I don’t relish moving everyone and hoping the house is still here when the weather clears. We’ve given up a lot to live here and it’s time to move on. In October we’re going to really take some concrete steps to make that happen.