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Wednesday, December 6, 2017

IWSG, an UPDATE, and BEING THANKFUL

Posting the First Wednesday of every month, the Insecure Writer's Support Group, is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. YOU can sign up HERE to participate.

Every month a question will be posed that may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. You can write about anything that relates to your writing journey.

Let's give a warm welcome to our co-hosts: Julie Flanders, Shannon Lawrence, Fundy Blue, and Heather Gardner!

This month's question is: As you look back on 2017, with all its successes/failures, if you could backtrack, what would you do differently?
I think I would have worked more diligently on the revising/editing of my novel during the first half of the year, which got set aside once the hurricanes hit the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. But I won't beat myself up about it. Some things are just more important, like being a link to family in the VI with the "outside" world.

For the time being, I've decided to post once a month on IWSG Wednesdays. It's one small way for me to keep in touch with this wonderful blogging community. 


Post Hurricane Irma/Maria Update
It's been three months, today, since Irma slammed into the Virgin Islands. To say I've been on an emotional roller coaster ride is an understatement. It's been hard to wrap my head around 185 to 200 mph sustained wind with gusts of up to 250 mph. Nothing is quite like it was. The beach landscapes have completely changed with the loss of palm trees and ancient seagrape trees. 300 and 400 year-old trees are gone as are some 300+ year-old Danish buildings.  If that weren't enough, just two weeks later, the VI and Puerto Rico were smacked by Maria. What wasn't damaged by Irma was certainly tested by the terrible flooding. And Puerto Rico... There are still many people in the mountains who have not yet been reached... We will never know the true death toll.

I am reminded daily that NOTHING stays the same.

The most unsettling experience for me was watching a video taken on St. John a week or so after the horrendous flooding of Maria. As a kid I had the the whole island as my playground, I know this place. I know the roads, the landmarks, the trees... and yet, as I watched the video I couldn't tell where it was taken. I was completely disoriented and it was disconcerting to not recognize my beautiful island. The trees were blasted, not a leaf left anywhere. Barren twisted sticks stuck out of the hillsides looking for all the world like they had been consumed by massive fires or been flattened by bombs. Debris was everywhere piled 6 and 8 feet deep.

I confess, I've become a little obsessed wanting to find out what trees survived. The lignum vitae in Miss Meada's yard and the "plum" tree across the street, the tyre palms on Trunk Cay, the ancient tamarinds at East End and Lameshur, the mahoganys in Cruz Bay, the kapok at Caneel, the rain tree and bay trees at Cinnamon. On St. Thomas the baobabs and mamee apples , the tamarind at Nisky, the guavaberry tree, tyre palm and bay trees at my sister's house. I have wept as I learned the fate of each, whether it survived, was damaged, or is gone... Some I have yet to hear about.

I didn't realize how attached I was to the trees, how much each and every one meant to me. Landmarks in my life, landmarks pointing the way... "turn left at the tamarind and at the first flamboyant turn right." Landmarks imprinted on my soul, beating in my heart, swimming in my blood.
The Raintree at Cinnamon.
Scarred, but alive.
Photo by Radha Speer


 The lignum vitae in Miss Meada's yard 
featured in my novel, The Bowl and the Stone
Lost limbs but has put on new leaves.
photo by Radha Speer

But some things will take generations to return to some semblance of what they were before.
(Pictures courtesy of Radha Speer, a friend of mine on St. John)
Before Irma, Gibney Beach, St. John.
After. 

And yet, life goes on. Some people, whether they have lost everything or not, stay and rebuild. Some people, who have have lost everything and have the means, have left. And life goes on. And nothing stays the same, everything changes. 

As my sister and I have, for the time being, lost our income source (like just about everyone else) I now have a part time job...


Being Thankful
Today I'm thankful that my family and friends in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico are safe, though day to day living is still difficult. I'm thankful that plant life is returning, that the hills are turning green, though the ecology may well be forever changed. I'm thankful that beaches are opening and the water is as beautiful as ever, though the shorelines have a totally different look. I'm thankful for the over 700 linemen who have come down from the states to replace power poles and string new line, though Puerto Rico is still struggling to get electricity to the city of San Juan. I'm thankful to the cruise lines who were the first to arrive with supplies and to help evacuate people and are now returning, a few ships at a time, bringing tourists, though their experience of the islands will be different than what it was pre-Irma. I'm thankful that my sister finally got her car out of her carport and is now able to drive herself around to run errands, though it took two months to clear the six foot wall of debris off her driveway and she is still without power. Daily I'm thankful for a myriad of small and large things and, as Christmas and the New Year approaches, will be thankful for many, many more.

And so, my new header picture is of a sunrise over St. John, taken from St. Thomas. Sunrise, because there is hope, because it is a new day. Because the people are VI STRONG, and like the Phoenix will rise again.

What are you thankful for?

33 comments:

  1. Yes, your friends and family are more important than your writing or blogging when they are going through such huge challenges. That must have been so hard to see videos of places you know being destroyed by the hurricane. It's so sad that we haven't done more to help all the victims. It's really outrageous that we're letting people live in these conditions.

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    1. Puerto Rico has been particularly neglected, and the small towns on the Texas coast that got hit by Harvey. But I so admire those who stay and rebuilt with or without government help. They are the REAL heroes!

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  2. Those kinds of changes are mind blowing. A blessing your family there survived though. It's changed, but it will grow into something new. I'm sorry about the income. Was it connected to the Virgin Islands?

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    1. It will and is growing into something new. And yes, our income is directly related to the VI... But it will come back, my sister and I are very hopeful.

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  3. You can't control things when life throws you curves like you've experienced this year. It is comforting to know that, eventually, the beauty will return. *hugs*

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    1. Thanks Donna. I'm so grateful on so many levels, and so sad as well. Some things will be changed forever, and some things, like the people, the ocean and the sky will remain the same. There is comfort in that.

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  4. A thankful heart is a happy heart. I agree trees are landmarks. People have been using them to give directions forever. Go down this path a spell and make a left at the old oak tree.

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    1. :) So true. And those some of those trees are gone, in time (a hundred years or so) new ones will take their places and be landmarks for another generation.

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  5. I know it's heartbreaking to see all of the changes. It's hard enough when it's gradual. I hope the island continues to recover.

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    1. The islands are recovering, but it's slow. In the mean time the people are strong and determined!

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  6. All I know of Puerto Rico and the VI is from what I've seen on the news. I'm so disappointed in the US that we've not done more to help. I can't imagine, I simply can not imagine, what the people have gone through and are trying to cope with each day. Your strength is amazing. Your people are amazing. We could learn from you.

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    1. Thanks I.B. The response from the government, particularly for Puerto Rico, has been slow to say the least. But the people, as you say, are amazingly resilient and determined.

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  7. Dear Bish, I had tears in my eyes. I can only imagine how sad you must be. My childhood home is so very precious to me and although there have been changes (the house I grew up in has gone) the land, tress and fields remain the same. I’ve followed along with you as you’ve shared pictures on FB but reading about it here really brings home the devastation.
    I’m thankful your family are safe and that some of your beloved trees have survived.

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    1. Yup... it's all a reminder that nothing stays the same. And we breathe into it and move on.

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  8. I'm so glad you and your sister survived the devastation of those two hurricanes. I visited St. Croix back in the 80s and was moved by the beauty of the VI. But you're right: change is the only constant. Wishing you a peaceful, prosperous, healthy 2018.

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    1. My sister and my cousins did for sure. I live in the states so my experience was one of helplessness... But that's passed and now we're moving on to simply getting her done!

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  9. Glad you are okay!I wish I'd done more writing the first half of the year too. But when inspiration strikes, we better go for it! Have a wonderful Christmas.

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    1. Thanks, Jennifer. I'm planning on doing SOME kind of writing in the coming year.

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  10. It’s awful to see what happens to our home and the places we love when a hurricane hits it. My thoughts are with everyone in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

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    1. And I don't plan to dwell on the bad too much longer because so much good has and is happening. The islands the people will survive.

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  11. This has been a wrenching experience, Bish. I've thought about you daily. Trees are special and so, of course, you'd be attached to them. Healing happens. Just so slowly.

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    1. It has, Lee. And I thank you for your thoughts. Generations will grow up not knowing what I knew, but they will grow up none the less and have different memories that will be just as wonderful and meaningful. It's a new age.

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  12. Probably if you had tried to write or edit, you would have been too distracted to focus. Last year, my parents were in and out of the hospital. I sat in waiting rooms doing nothing and often thought about writing, but was too worried to focus.

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    1. Yes, it's hard to focus when people you love are having a hard time.

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  13. I've never really been able to write during high stress periods. I know some people find it soothing, but for me, I can't lose myself in the writing. Certainly, it doesn't come first in situations like these. I'm also a sucker for trees as landmarks and as memories with power. They're strength and persistence make them stand out. And their part as visual landscape throughout our lives. Those pictures are shocking in many ways. I hope you get more good news than bad.

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    1. Everyday there's a little more good news. Everyday things are just a little bit better than they were the day before.

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  14. I don't think I'd change anything that I did during 2017.

    What a terrible year it's been for so many people. I was one of the lucky ones, thankfully. Hope you don't have too difficult a journey as things slowwwwly get back to some semblance of normal.

    Good to see you're posting again.

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    1. Thanks Silver Fox. The way to go is forward, it's all any of us have.

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  15. Hi Bish--Oh, what a horrible event to have lived through. So heartbreaking for you and everyone involved. But your faith and hope are inspiring. It's true that change is the one constant in life. Sometimes, we just wish the change wasn't so massive. But we can't change what IS. So we keep our chin up and have faith that things will improve, and do our part to move things along.

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  16. I'm so glad your family is ok. Nature will take care of the island, but it has to be heart-breaking to see the changes. I hope you & your family enjoy the holidays.

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  17. Oh my goodness! Thank you for sharing your story and pictures. I, too, love trees and I'm sorry you lost so many you love. I am glad you and your family are okay. How devastating, and yet your positive attitude and faith in a bright future is amazing. Christy

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  18. You and your sister have been in my thoughts these months. I am glad you keep posting updates on Facebook, keeping thing front and forward.

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  19. Hi Bish - what an emotional read ... and I can feel how devastated you feel. I'll try and catch up properly once I'm more settled in over here. Just glad you and your sister are well and able to help others a little .. but both storms were dreadful - showing us what nature can do. I sincerely hope the Islands get more help as soon as ... but in the meantime all the best - it's been a devastating experience for so many ... with lots of thoughts - Hilary

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Your Random Thoughts are most welcome!