We took a vacation this week to Mexico Beach, FL. Hurricane Michael hit the area back in Oct. 2018. We love the 'Forgotten Coast' of FL from Mexico Beach to Apalachicola, we have so many great memories there and thought we'd support the ecomomy of the area we love.

But this trip was very different. After the first day I was begging to go home. (Irony is, since we live in our RV full time and I was home, lol) but I really wanted to leave ... as an empath the energy was so heavy. I know Greg felt it too.

My only escape was on the beach where the Gulf waters created a sense of solace and peacefulness. So I sat with the energy the best I could. I'd tamp it down from time to time with food or drink, but then remember - it's not mine, let it move through. So I sat with it and moved it through. Whew. What a way to spend a vacation! Clearly I was meant to have this experience, but geese!

Many in the area have rebuilt, many have not. Driving the streets was like driving through a war torn country - and it lasted for miles and miles inland.

I got home and still felt the heaviness lingering. So, being a creative, I did the only thing I know to do when I need to let something out. I write. I'm not usually the rhyming type poet, but this piece birthed itself, so fast and fluidly, I let it be what it wanted to be....

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

My Prayer for Mexico Beach

The wrath of Hurricane Michael still marks the land

The destruction and devastation go hand and hand.

It’s been almost four years and the air is still thick and heavy

As an empath this atmosphere is far from stable or steady.

The town’s people carry on under a weighted veil of uncertainty

Their despair is hidden behind smiles, as they put on a good face for me.

I walk the beach and cry out my questions to the deep blue sky

I ask for the answer, never receiving the why.

So I pray.

I pray for the healing of the storm ravaged trees

I pray for the shop owner who suffers silently, on bended knee.

I pray to the sunset so clear and so bright

I pray that the wrongs committed here will soon be made right.

I pray for the empty foundations that once were called home

I pray that the families no longer feel frightened and alone.

I pray for the land scarred deep with a wellspring of pain

I pray for release of the heaviness and for those still struggling in vain.

I look up to the heavens and understand clearly, this could have happened to me

I try to comprehend, how is it possible, was all meant to be?

God teaches us lessons we may never fully understand

Or perhaps the lesson is as simple as having compassion for our fellow man.

- Alleson Gregary