WTSP is getting ready to sign off. Everyone here who is in the path is hopefully already packed up and gone or boarded up and locked in. I've gotten watery eyes at least 5 times since last night...reading, praying, worrying, praying more, waiting, wondering...and hoping for some kind of miracle. I hope casualties will be few....or, even better, none. But I can't help but think about how distressing this will be for people to return to Tampa and the surrounding area afterwards. What will their homes look like? What will their workplaces look like? How long will it take to clean up and get back to life as they know it? Life that just five days ago was still so normal, sometimes so routine...so thankfully, guaranteed routine and secure and normal.
As I sit here in my dry, air-conditioned office at my desk with a computer that still gives me contact to people hundreds, even thousands of miles away and I look over at a cold Diet Pepsi and down at my dry socks and shoes and think about all these silly little things that most of us take for granted. I pray for you guys -- for your safety, for your family and friends, for the storm to weaken, for things to not hit as bad as forecast, for you to be able to return to your homes soon, for strength and courage for you if things do get bad, and for life to return to normal as soon as possible.
I wish I could do more.
