Moments of trauma will always reveal what you value most. Growing up on the Gulf Coast of Texas, the time period between June and November is filled with nervous eyes watching the Gulf. Hurricane season is just 5 – 6 months of underlying anxiety. At any time, a storm can come up and take away everything you have worked for. Over my 39 years, I have evacuated myself or my family from no less than 7 or 8 hurricanes.

2017 was the first hurricane season we had gone through after buying our first home. No lie – watching a monster of a hurricane coming and sitting on top of your city is much more stressful when you own the house. We were lumped in with the other 70 – 80% of homeowners at the time estimated to not have flood insurance in Houston. It’s stupid, I know, but we gambled due to cleaning out our savings in the buying process, not being in a flood plain, and the house not flooding during the 2015 Memorial Day or the 2016 Tax Day floods. 

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