0:00

Thank you for joining me for this week's Homeowners

0:02

Be Aware podcast . I want

0:04

you to stop what you're doing for just

0:06

a moment and imagine what your life

0:09

would be like if you lost everything

0:11

, and I mean everything your house

0:13

, possessions , family members you loved

0:15

. Sadly , we see this happen every

0:18

time we have a major disaster in this country

0:20

. Today , I want to share the story

0:22

of Trixie Parks . Trixie

0:24

and her father lived across from the beach

0:26

in Fort Myers Beach , florida . They

0:29

had a beautiful home and a great life , and

0:31

then Hurricane Ian struck and changed

0:33

things forever . As

0:35

you celebrate this holiday season with your family

0:38

and friends , I hope you'll take 30 minutes to

0:40

hear Trixie's story . I'm

0:43

George Siegal , and this is Homeowners

0:45

Be Aware , the podcast that teaches

0:47

you everything you need to know about being

0:50

a homeowner . Trixie , thank you so

0:52

much for joining me today .

0:54

Oh my gosh , thank you for having me

0:56

. Always nice to see you .

0:58

Yes , it's our second time getting together . I interviewed

1:00

you recently for the documentary

1:02

film we're making Built to Last Byer Beware

1:05

. Sadly , you were a

1:07

tragic story from

1:09

Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers

1:11

Beach . Tell us about what happened

1:14

to you .

1:15

Oh gosh , well , you know what it's like a never

1:17

ending story , honestly . So

1:20

I was a resident of . I've been a resident

1:22

of Florida my whole entire existence

1:24

. By choice , not by choice You're born here

1:26

, you're a resident of Florida

1:28

, right here , and so I've lived

1:31

on the East Coast . And then , when I moved over

1:33

to the West Coast , I've been here for oh , I

1:35

don't know 20 something years and

1:37

we had a home and a business right on Fort

1:39

Myers Beach and

1:43

everything was , you know , just going as

1:45

supposed to be going the

1:47

way . You just live your life and you don't think about anything

1:49

. And then , september 28th

1:52

came Hurricane Ian and everything

1:56

is gone and my whole entire

1:58

existence is somewhere

2:00

in the Gulf of Mexico , I

2:02

guess . So it was

2:04

the first time in my life

2:06

, living in Florida , that I actually lost

2:10

everything .

2:12

Yeah , it's pretty horrible what

2:15

we saw down there Now the house , the

2:17

location where your home was . It's actually across

2:19

the street from the

2:22

beach , but that doesn't stop the water

2:24

from getting to your house , does it ?

2:26

Yeah . So I mean you think okay

2:28

, so that's a great way to put it

2:30

, because there was really truly no rhyme

2:33

or reason and there isn't

2:35

to any kind of weather

2:37

disaster . Don't even try to

2:39

make sense of it , don't even try to say well , if I

2:41

move here , I'll be okay , if

2:43

I move there , it real . We're

2:46

across the street from the beach and we had

2:48

, I think , something like 15

2:50

to 18 foot storm

2:53

surges . I had a home up

2:56

on high level and it gutted

2:58

me all the way through to the top level

3:02

, gutted me through , and

3:04

the house across the street on the

3:06

water also was gutted , but still standing

3:09

. And then the one next . I mean there's

3:11

no rhyme or reason to it . Yes , I

3:13

got devastated , definitely 100%

3:16

devastated .

3:17

Was your house elevated at all or was it slab

3:19

on grade ?

3:21

It was elevated , it was on concrete

3:24

, you know pilings

3:27

, and again doesn't

3:29

matter , the bottom part of it was completely

3:31

gutted through . So that was empty

3:34

, an empty shell , and

3:37

then the top part , on

3:39

top of the pilings , that

3:41

was gutted as well . So I

3:43

think that you think

3:45

you're going to build up high , but what

3:47

happens when you're 15 foot storm

3:50

surges ? How high can you actually go ? How

3:53

high can you go ? I don't know . So

3:55

I mean I guess , between the wind

3:57

, the water , maybe

4:00

a tornado , who knows

4:02

what happened , it all just kind of came

4:04

together . It was a complete weather

4:06

disaster . That's all I can call it .

4:09

In looking at what your house used

4:11

to be when it was there . Is there any

4:13

way you think it could have been built that

4:15

would have survived this ? Is

4:17

it because it was older ? Is there

4:19

? Can you look at it now and go , wow , if we

4:21

had had this so many feet into the ground and it had

4:24

been elevated to this code , that

4:26

maybe we would still have a home ?

4:28

That's great . That's a great question

4:30

. And again I go back to

4:32

thinking about

4:35

things like that if we would have done something

4:37

different , I can't say

4:39

. First of all , I'm not a builder . I'm

4:41

just a person who oh wow , you

4:43

know I , that's

4:46

a good . Actually I'm a builder . I

4:48

had no choice to live there . My

4:50

family lived there . So

4:54

I'm sorry my dog is barking . No , that's

4:56

OK , we can edit that part out , don't

4:58

worry , I'm sorry he's being annoying , so

5:00

OK , so my , you

5:02

know , having a choice . So if I look

5:04

at the guy next door and he built a house

5:07

built

5:10

onto his house , so he had like a regular kind

5:12

of beach house , and then he started building concrete

5:14

and concrete . He

5:17

still has his house but

5:19

he's still , you know , got gutted

5:21

underneath , so part of his house is gone

5:23

, part of it is there . Our

5:27

code is different . You know , I don't know

5:29

. Do people really know ? Like I mean

5:31

, can a human being know what is

5:33

going to be ? I'm

5:36

no expert , I'm just . I just experienced

5:38

a hurricane . I'm no expert , I don't know

5:40

. I can tell you , living in Florida

5:43

, my whole life , the progression of

5:45

where I lived before and

5:47

where I live now and

5:49

the differences in how I

5:52

experienced hurricanes . I experienced hurricanes my

5:54

whole life . So yeah

5:57

, yeah .

5:57

I mean , you know I'm not an expert either . I can tell

6:00

you that what experts do tell me is

6:02

that newer structures and structures built

6:04

for the hazard in the area tend to survive

6:06

better . But that doesn't help , clearly

6:09

, when you have an older structure like that . Now

6:11

your situation also brought

6:13

into play . Your father was

6:15

older , he was experiencing

6:18

some health issues and the

6:20

insurance lapsed on your property

6:23

. Talk about that .

6:24

Oh gosh , you know , oh my gosh , I'm

6:28

feeling the pain

6:31

of that situation . So

6:33

, you know , just on a personal note

6:35

, I mean it kind

6:37

of brings tears to my eyes because I'm dealing

6:40

with that right now . So a year and something

6:42

later , a year

6:44

and a few months later , I'm

6:46

having to go back and kind of pick up the pieces

6:48

of what my 89-year-old

6:51

father with dementia started

6:54

. Okay , so he started this legacy

6:56

when he was , you know , in his 60s

6:58

or whatever , and now the legacy has

7:00

ended because of the decisions

7:02

that he made as a leader of our

7:04

family and we

7:06

got the home and then

7:08

he didn't take care of it . So at the end

7:11

of his life he had dementia

7:13

and he canceled our insurance . So

7:16

I ended up with nothing

7:18

except bills . So I

7:21

had and I had nobody to guide me . I was

7:23

all alone . I know that sounds really sappy

7:25

, but I was all alone and no

7:27

guidance whatsoever and nobody

7:29

had my back and nobody told me

7:32

what to do . And when I went

7:34

to go , I get a little upset

7:36

, I get a little . So

7:40

when I went to go call about

7:42

insurance , I was informed

7:45

at that time , maybe a couple weeks

7:47

after the hurricane , that we had no

7:49

insurance that . Oh , mr

7:51

DeFeo , your dad canceled

7:53

the hurricane insurance and he did

7:55

that . Let me tell you why he did that . As I thought

7:57

back , he did it because he's 89

8:00

, and he lived in Florida for , you

8:02

know , 60 years and he

8:04

never really experienced

8:07

this devastation , so he thought he would be

8:09

okay . That's all

8:11

. I think it's just at a pure . You

8:13

know , you think you're going to be okay , you

8:15

really do so . I had no

8:18

insurance and nobody to guide me and I'm

8:20

. It's

8:22

been really hard , I'm not going to lie

8:24

, it's been really hard .

8:26

Well , that's it's understandable , and it's hard

8:28

to imagine all

8:30

the pain and challenges that you're having to

8:32

deal with Now . After

8:35

the storm , you went and escaped to

8:37

the wilderness for a while . Right , you

8:39

went off out into the woods to

8:42

get your to clear your head , but you're

8:44

still suffer from PTSD

8:46

, from this , don't you ? I mean , this is a life-altering

8:49

tragedy 100%

8:52

PTSD .

8:53

So I really , truly knowing myself

8:55

you know the hippie girl that I'm I said I got

8:57

to get out of here , especially because I didn't have

8:59

any guidance . I was all alone . The

9:02

person that I would ask questions to had

9:04

died my dad . So I

9:06

was just , you know , kind of fumbling

9:08

and and and my head was

9:10

in a fog . I couldn't make any decisions

9:13

. So I bought an RV and I

9:15

literally went to the woods . I was in Idaho

9:17

, I was in Montana , I was in Wyoming

9:19

, I was unplugged from the world . I didn't

9:21

know what was going on . Great

9:23

for my head , bad for when

9:26

I came back , because I , when I got back , I

9:28

was hit with all this stuff , back taxes

9:30

that my dad didn't pay . Oh my God , the things

9:32

that I'm going through . So

9:34

, um , I know I forget the question .

9:37

No , the the question was more about

9:39

just , you're still reliving this

9:41

. I mean , you don't just , you don't just walk away from

9:44

it .

9:44

No , no , no . So even though you try to walk

9:46

away . So I went into the woods and I unplugged

9:48

, but then I came back and I'm

9:50

going to be honest with you that I'm having a hard time

9:52

being in the world right now . I

9:55

I kind of lose

9:57

my , my sense of

9:59

, I don't know how to deal with things

10:02

. I'm not going to lie because I hit my

10:04

family , not knowing I

10:06

don't think they do it on purpose my

10:09

just people . I know . Oh yeah , oh

10:12

, I have this brand new $70,000

10:14

car and oh , I just got my Tory

10:16

Bird shoes and oh , I have this and I have that . And

10:19

I just look at them like what's

10:22

going on inside of me is I want to explode

10:24

and I want to scream at them and say I

10:26

lost everything my

10:29

earrings , my , my

10:31

shoes , my everything

10:33

. And you're telling me about all the new things that you're getting

10:35

. And should I be upset , should

10:37

I be happy for them ? I don't know , I

10:39

have a mix of emotions , but really what

10:42

it does inside , it makes me want to explode . And then

10:44

I just go and I retreat and I can't

10:46

. I just can't . I'm thinking to myself this is so

10:48

unfair . Why am I going through

10:50

this ? It's so , like , do

10:52

you people not understand what this feels

10:55

like ? So yeah , I relive it consistently

10:58

, and part of that is I

11:00

just hide and I don't think that's a good

11:02

idea either .

11:03

So Well , I think that whatever coping

11:05

mechanism you need to use , it's

11:08

kind of hard to question

11:10

it . When you look at something

11:12

like that and a common theme and

11:14

everybody that I've interviewed after

11:17

a disaster that lost everything

11:19

, there's just that feeling . Describe

11:21

what that feeling is like when you wake up with

11:24

nothing .

11:25

Nothing . Yeah , it's nothing

11:27

, it's . It's um , I

11:29

don't know for me , and I've always been

11:31

a really like giving person , like

11:33

I get , I give , give , give , right . I'm always

11:35

that person that has helped everybody

11:38

and you know I didn't have a

11:40

lot but I always helped and and

11:42

I'm I'm now

11:45

like feeling like

11:47

I've all the life

11:49

has been sucked out of me . Really

11:51

, it's a struggle every day

11:53

to wake up and just want to go

11:55

on with the world , because and

11:57

then I know that sounds really dramatic

11:59

, but that's how I really truly feel I'm like

12:01

, not that your your stuff

12:04

or your cards or your shoes

12:06

, you know , identify you , um

12:09

, but you

12:11

know we work for them and they make us

12:13

happy and , um

12:15

, you know , nobody said you have to be . You

12:18

know , living in with no shoes and

12:20

you know , in a tent , that's

12:22

not what we're , we're here for and

12:25

I had everything and now I have nothing

12:27

. And you know people

12:29

say , oh , but you're alive . Yes , I'm

12:32

alive , but I'm alive with a lot of trauma inside

12:34

of me .

12:35

Yeah , I mean , that's a catchphrase that does victims

12:37

Absolutely . And when somebody says , well , at least you're alive

12:40

, oh , you don't have cancer , I mean there's

12:42

always a scenario that can be worse

12:45

, but it doesn't make the tragedy you're

12:47

experiencing just vanquish and

12:49

go away .

12:50

Right , and I always say my everybody

12:53

, whatever your tragedy is right . So

12:55

, whatever you're trying , mine isn't worse or

12:57

better , yours isn't worse or better , it's

13:00

just , it is your own personal

13:02

journey of your tragedy and how you deal

13:04

with it and how . And honestly , I really

13:06

kind of just , I

13:09

don't try , I try not to talk about it anymore

13:11

, because I think I think and maybe

13:13

this is true , maybe it isn't , but I think that people

13:16

around me , my friends , my family

13:18

, they don't want to hear about it . They're like , oh

13:20

, get over it . You know , it's been a year and a half

13:22

, move on right . Okay

13:25

, yeah , easy for you to say , as you're

13:27

celebrating the holidays

13:29

with your family , as you're driving

13:31

in your new cars , as you're going

13:34

about your everyday business , I'm still

13:36

living the tragedy . I'm

13:38

still living with trauma inside of my

13:41

soul . I'm telling you

13:43

, every day something comes up . Every

13:45

day I get a phone call . Oh

13:48

, well , you know the

13:51

things that are happening to me , the

13:54

things my dad did prior and

13:57

now after the hurricane , and I'm still paying

13:59

bills that came up during

14:01

the hurricane . And I try to explain to people well , I

14:04

didn't have an address and I lost things

14:06

. And they're like yeah , it doesn't matter , it doesn't matter who cares

14:08

, we heard it all . We don't care , we've heard it all

14:10

and nobody wants to hear it , and

14:13

they really don't . So

14:15

I just I try not to complain and I just

14:17

say okay , and if I get

14:19

one thing done a day , I've accomplished

14:22

a huge amount . And I used to be this

14:24

, you know , business

14:26

owner and go getter , and I did everything

14:28

, and now I'm just like I'm exhausted

14:31

. I am , I'm exhausted .

14:33

Well , I think it says a lot more about some of the

14:35

people you're around , possibly , than around you

14:37

. Because , then about you ? Because

14:40

it sounds like a lack of empathy

14:43

for something that was a real tragedy , that

14:45

Rightyou're still living Now . Right now

14:47

, you're house sitting for somebody in that area

14:49

where you're on the beach . You've lived in a

14:51

motor home . Could you see yourself

14:53

going back to a house ? Do you like the freedom

14:56

of not having that responsibility ? Are your eyes

14:58

now open to owning something is too risky

15:00

.

15:01

Yes , yeah . So you know , as

15:03

I , as I have gone through

15:05

the travels , you know my , my family said

15:07

oh , you got to buy a house , you got to buy a house . But let me

15:09

tell you , pyrr , I truly , truly feel inside

15:12

when you work really , really

15:14

hard and then I

15:16

mean , then you're , you just look at a piece

15:18

of dirt after your house goes

15:20

and your cars go and your shoes go . I'm

15:23

scared to death

15:25

to take , make any kind

15:27

of investment . I know this sounds so dramatic and

15:29

maybe in a few years I'll change . I'm

15:31

scared to death to make an investment

15:33

in something , or maybe , possibly

15:36

a 1% chance , a 90%

15:38

chance of who knows percentages , that I

15:40

could lose it all again , because once you lose

15:42

it all , that is

15:44

my greatest fear , it's my greatest fear . So

15:47

I have very little , very

15:49

little . I'm very minimal . I

15:51

can get in my RV and I

15:53

can escape , and it

15:56

wouldn't . I

15:58

bad weather's coming , I'll go somewhere else . I mean , I'm

16:00

, I . I'm telling you truth

16:03

. Truth be told in my heart of hearts , I

16:05

don't think I'll ever buy anything or

16:07

own anything of great

16:10

, great value .

16:12

That makes perfect sense . Now , are

16:14

you able to get any value

16:16

for the lot that your home was on ?

16:20

Well , I don't know . So I

16:22

looked around at the area and

16:24

, you know , nothing's selling

16:27

right now . And I

16:30

do need to sell it . I'll be honest with you , because

16:32

now , since the hurricane and having no

16:34

insurance , I've been putting money out rather

16:36

than than being

16:39

able to , to , you know , survive

16:41

. So I don't know , people

16:43

are selling some lots , but not a lot

16:46

, and I'm not . I

16:49

don't know what's going on . I don't know if

16:51

people even want to come . I don't know . Well

16:54

, wait , because now it's season on Fort Myers

16:56

Beach and people

16:59

don't care , they just want to come to the beach . They live

17:01

in Michigan , they want to come to the beach . They

17:03

don't care that it's there's

17:05

nothing to do here . They want to come . So I

17:07

guess we'll see what happens during the season

17:09

. If people are interested in , in

17:12

owning and I think people still are , I don't

17:14

know why , but they are .

17:16

Where are people staying when they come down there ? Because I was struck

17:18

by , over a year past

17:20

, the hurricane . It

17:22

looked like it was a mess there .

17:24

It's a mess . I have no idea . So in the prior

17:27

to hurricane , oh my gosh , everybody , everybody

17:29

in their brother owned a vacation rental

17:31

Everybody you know me and you

17:33

know my next-door neighbors and everybody else and

17:36

that's what we did . That's how we made our

17:38

living . There's

17:40

really none . So I think there's

17:42

like a cup , I think there's a hotel

17:44

, a resort , and then now Margaritaville

17:47

is open and that's wow

17:49

, 700 a night . So good luck

17:51

, Good for them , if you can afford that

17:54

. Seriously , really , I'm not saying that . So

17:57

I don't know . I think they're staying off the beach

17:59

and driving . There's

18:02

some new hotels that have been built , but

18:06

it is . I'm on the beach , it is . It's

18:09

like Death Valley here . I'm sorry , there's nothing

18:11

here . It's pretty , pretty

18:13

depressing .

18:15

Are they giving you any sense of in

18:17

the community how long they think it will take for

18:19

everything to get back up to speed

18:21

? I know it took several years in Mexico Beach

18:23

, in the Panhandle of Florida

18:26

. Do they give people a sense of , wow , this

18:28

is a 10 year project , this is a five year project

18:30

. What do you hear ?

18:32

You hear different things from different people

18:34

. There's condos that I know people live

18:36

in and they're not able to

18:38

get into them until next

18:42

winter , 2024

18:44

. So two years of waiting , and that's

18:46

maybe . That's a maybe . There's

18:48

nothing guaranteed , so we're

18:50

not having a guarantee of okay

18:53

, you know , on January

18:55

15 , everything's going to be in this

18:57

shape . Nobody knows , because

18:59

people are coming in and I mean there's constant

19:02

workers constantly . You

19:04

know , you see the electricians and you see

19:06

the plumbers and you see the construction

19:09

workers and there is stuff going up . But

19:11

then , but then in certain areas

19:13

there's nothing . There's still the dead , gutted

19:15

building that's for sale , the

19:17

gutted , you know church

19:21

, and can

19:24

I tell you I don't know , I really don't know . I mean

19:26

, I know from , just like what

19:28

you said , from Mexico Beach and all

19:31

those are . Sometimes it takes five to 10

19:33

years .

19:34

So now I really don't know how to describe

19:36

this to people , but I'm sure

19:38

a lot of people can relate to this . If

19:40

you're in Fort Myers , where all the strip

19:42

malls are and all the hotels and

19:44

everything , life looks like it's

19:46

normal , but then you drive down

19:48

to Fort Myers Beach and

19:50

it's a war zone down there .

19:52

It's a war zone . It is , yeah

19:54

, and I think that you

19:58

know what has happened . You're right . So people

20:00

are coming . It's not the old

20:02

Fort Myers Beach that they knew when they'd come

20:04

over the beach , the bridge , and oh

20:06

, there was all this life and it's

20:08

nothing like that . All you

20:10

see is , you

20:12

know , sand , which is

20:15

great , you know , but dead trees

20:17

and broken buildings

20:19

and gutted buildings . And personally , if it

20:21

were me and I didn't have to be

20:23

here , this would be the last place I'd want

20:25

to come . I'll be really honest with you

20:27

, but they don't seem

20:29

to care . I don't know . They're driving , they

20:31

come over , so I think they're staying over

20:33

the bridge . They're coming , they're spending

20:35

the day on the beach , la la la , and then

20:37

going back , but there's nothing here

20:40

. There's a little area

20:42

in Times Square

20:44

they call it , with a couple of what

20:48

do you call them ? Food trucks , Margaritaville

20:51

, and that's pretty much it , and

20:53

all these people . I'm sorry

20:55

, it's all . It makes me ill . I'm

20:58

an owner and they're

21:00

driving here and they're gawking and they're driving

21:03

five miles an hour to look at

21:05

all the devastation that we lived in and

21:07

that triggers my PTSD , like

21:09

you would not believe , when I'm walking

21:12

and I'm seeing people taking and they're still doing

21:14

it literally five miles an hour

21:16

, looking at our homes

21:18

, our death , what we experienced

21:20

, and

21:22

then I'm triggered all over again . So the triggering

21:25

of the PTSD happens pretty much every

21:27

day for me .

21:28

Yeah , yeah . No , that happens all the time

21:30

after a disaster . Now we do want to give a shout

21:33

out to the businesses that are there that are working

21:35

. There's a great little coffee

21:37

place down the street from you that I

21:39

had some coffee at , and then there's a yacht club area

21:42

further down the road that

21:44

we had an amazing lunch there . So there are

21:46

businesses that are working that , if you're down there , it's

21:48

great to support them .

21:49

Yes , oh , yeah , you did . I think you

21:51

went over .

21:52

You told us to go there . It was great , yes .

21:53

And it was buff , it was bustling right .

21:55

Yeah , it was , and the food was wonderful . It was great

21:58

.

21:58

I'm so glad , yeah , yeah , so we love

22:00

that . I mean , that's like a local

22:02

Yoko place too . So we're

22:04

happy that there's some place like that

22:06

. So I'll put my mic . So

22:10

we're happy that there's a place like that and I'm

22:12

glad that you , you

22:15

know , experienced that . And you

22:17

know , in my heart do I want the

22:19

old , old life

22:22

back up ? Of course we all

22:24

do , we all do , we all want to go . You

22:26

know , I was a frequent flyer of that

22:28

restaurant when it was somewhere else . I

22:33

don't know , it's going to be different , it's just going to be different

22:35

. And I wasn't the person that was visiting

22:37

. I was , I was a working person

22:39

here , so I didn't always do all the vacation things

22:42

that everybody does . I just wanted to go to my little

22:44

local restaurant , have my mimosas

22:46

on Sunday , meet my friends

22:48

and be done . You know when they go back to work

22:50

.

22:51

So you know .

22:51

I don't know what it's going to be and now I can't do

22:53

any of those things . So anything that I do

22:55

is off of Fort

22:58

Myers Beach and

23:00

you know , luckily things

23:02

are happening out there , but the beach I'm

23:04

not . I'm not so sure .

23:05

Yeah , Now , if a community has a sound

23:08

infrastructure and a plan , the

23:10

path back sometimes is faster

23:12

than if they don't have that . When

23:14

we interviewed you for the film , you made it clear

23:17

that you felt that this , that Fort Myers Beach

23:19

was really unprepared for this .

23:21

I think they're completely unprepared

23:23

. I think that I

23:29

started doing a lot of research and I started

23:31

doing some

23:34

living writing . I'm writing

23:36

a book , right ? So my

23:38

book started out one way and now it's starting out as

23:40

living in Florida my whole life , in

23:42

all the hurricanes that I experienced

23:44

, and how truly , how

23:47

absolutely ignorant government

23:51

can be , and I'm

23:53

not sure how much they can do . I can't

23:55

tell you . Of course we have the weather people that say

23:57

get prepared , but I don't care how many

23:59

sandbags you put

24:02

or how many you know , whatever

24:04

you're preparing for it doesn't matter

24:06

, because we humans

24:09

cannot control what mother

24:11

nature does , right , so that hurricane's coming

24:13

in . So I think in

24:16

my experience

24:18

, you know you live , people

24:20

are living on your beach , they're living in a coastal

24:23

town , they're living on the Gulf of Mexico

24:25

, which is probably the worst place for hurricanes

24:27

in my opinion , and

24:30

there was no , like they could have started

24:32

this a long time ago . I don't know some kind of barrier

24:35

or some kind of protection

24:38

. Again , I'm no expert

24:40

, I don't know how that all works , I don't know

24:42

anything of that . But

24:44

wouldn't you think that they would maybe

24:47

be proactive as opposed to

24:49

reactive ? And now you have to go back and pick

24:51

up the pieces , literally , literally

24:53

, pick up the pieces . And

24:56

there's got to be a way , there's got to be some

24:59

engineers out there that can say this is

25:01

what we can do to help this community

25:04

. We can start with and

25:06

again I don't know some kind of barrier

25:08

or some kind of bridge or some kind of you

25:11

know , I don't know dam . I don't know what

25:13

people do , but anyway , that's how I think about

25:15

it . They're not prepared . No , and you'd think they

25:17

would be .

25:19

Yeah , oh , there's no question and it's amazing . But

25:22

I think it's not only the people at the top

25:24

, it's all of us at the bottom that go well , I

25:26

want to live here . I know the risk . They

25:28

just don't think it's going to happen to them . So

25:31

, as you , watch them start to rebuild Fort

25:33

Myers Beach . If they're not doing

25:35

it much differently to

25:37

me , that just means it can very likely happen again

25:40

.

25:42

Oh , there comes for me the reason

25:44

why I'm never going to do this

25:47

again , ever , because I know what's going to happen

25:49

. And then I started

25:51

thinking about how , what

25:53

? You know my parents . They came here in 1960

25:57

from Pennsylvania to live that dream

25:59

. I'm going to live on the beach

26:01

, I'm going to live in Florida , I'm going to have great

26:04

weather . I don't know

26:06

at that point , because I can't

26:08

ask them if they really thought about

26:11

what the risks

26:13

were . I mean , you hear about hurricanes and

26:16

honestly , I think they've gotten worse . They're

26:18

getting worse and worse and worse and worse . Over

26:20

the years they're getting worse . I lived through them

26:22

, to cat twos , cat threes

26:25

. Now , all of a sudden , a cat five is coming

26:27

and they're coming more often

26:29

, right ? I think

26:31

the cat twos and cat threes are like so who

26:33

cares ? Cat fives are on them , they're

26:37

coming and I live through it . I'm

26:40

here to tell you that a cat five

26:42

is , it's

26:45

no joke . There's

26:48

a lot of value .

26:49

It seems like Babcock Ranch , which

26:51

is about 40 minutes from where you

26:53

are . They're 35 feet up

26:55

. They built a community with the plan

26:57

of surviving hurricanes . They're not close to the water

27:00

Right , yet those people are living their

27:02

lives and are just fine today . That seems

27:04

to be an interesting trade-off .

27:07

Right , Well , OK , so they're

27:09

out . I know we're there , so that's a great place

27:11

. They're out east but they do have

27:13

the risk of the Caloosahatchee

27:15

River there . So I'm

27:17

not sure where that is in location to

27:19

them . But out in that east

27:22

area is the calo . I don't think they're

27:24

close to that , but a lot of people out there in the east

27:26

they have the Caloosahatchee River that does

27:28

surge .

27:29

Yeah , they have a plan there for getting

27:31

water out of the community and it seems

27:34

to have been very effective in the hurricane

27:36

. The point is , at least they're trying to do something

27:38

and it appears to be very effective . Looking

27:41

at what happened in Fort Myers Beach

27:43

, it's hard to say to somebody

27:46

go live by the water .

27:52

I think that it

27:54

. I'm just going

27:56

to say I just think people

27:59

, truly they get blinded

28:01

by their dreams , by

28:04

their hopes

28:06

, by this person who's

28:08

lived in the cold

28:10

winter forever

28:12

and ever , ever , in Michigan or Minnesota

28:15

or Wisconsin . And

28:19

let me tell you they have no

28:21

clue , because I

28:23

had renters from Wisconsin and

28:26

right after the hurricane they're like , okay

28:28

, well , can we come down ? And

28:31

I'm like you have no clue , there's

28:33

nothing there . And I would

28:35

start getting angry , like you have no clue . And I think

28:37

those people would still come and

28:39

they would still want to live on the beach . If they could

28:41

buy something or get something

28:43

for not a lot of money , or

28:45

they thought it was a great investment , I think they

28:48

would still do it . I think they would still take their chances

28:50

. Because we always say it's

28:52

not going to happen to me , it's not going to

28:54

happen to me . People say it all the time right , it's

28:57

not going to happen to me . That's a once in

28:59

a lifetime thing .

29:01

I think we all live that way . You know you don't wake

29:03

up in the morning and go . I think I'll get in a car accident

29:05

today . I think I'll have a category

29:08

five hurricane wipe out my life . We

29:11

don't think that way and it

29:13

catches up to us . So now , having

29:15

been through what you're living through now

29:17

, is the cost of living in paradise

29:19

worth it ?

29:22

I don't think so at all . I

29:24

think that , oh my gosh , there's so many other

29:26

places you can live , really so

29:29

beautiful . I've seen the country and there's some

29:31

amazing places . You want water . You

29:33

can have water , but you can do it by

29:36

a lake , right ? How about a lake ? Lakes are nice

29:38

. So I don't

29:40

think so . I think that what people are selling

29:42

land for here and what people

29:44

are doing , good

29:47

luck , you know , good luck to you , but

29:50

beware , I'm just gonna say you know , do

29:52

your homework . I don't think that this , I

29:55

don't think we're on steady ground here .

29:59

Well , you know , the film that we're making is called Built

30:01

to Last , buy or Beware , and

30:03

the beware seems to be something

30:05

that most people aren't , because we're all enamored

30:07

by where we wanna be and we

30:09

tend to fall in love before we understand what we're falling

30:11

in love with .

30:13

That's exactly right . That's exactly my point

30:16

. Like I don't , I think people are blinded

30:18

, I do . I think what you can have

30:20

, you're gonna make an amazing documentary

30:22

right . It's gonna be beautiful and it's gonna be really

30:25

important for people to see . I'm gonna

30:27

tell my story . Maybe other people are gonna

30:29

tell their story , I don't . If

30:32

you wanna listen , you will . If

30:34

you wanna educate yourself , you will

30:36

. Who's

30:38

gonna do that ? You know ? I

30:40

mean , I think you're right . I think people just

30:42

get enamored with

30:45

the idea of living

30:47

in paradise . That's

30:49

it .

30:51

Yeah , I think everybody that lives in Florida

30:53

is somewhat guilty of that . We

30:55

hope it's not gonna happen to us and

30:57

we see it keep happening year after

31:00

year , and most recently here

31:02

in Tampa we had just a winter storm that

31:04

flooded houses . So people who were flooded

31:06

by Adalia during hurricane

31:08

season just got walloped after

31:11

hurricane season was over by a storm

31:13

that they didn't even expect would

31:15

cause that kind of damage .

31:17

Right . And so why is so

31:19

? I ask you , why is that ? Like

31:21

if you could get yourself

31:23

, like if you could prepare yourself and say this

31:26

could happen ? Why would you like , is it so

31:29

important ? I maybe

31:31

I'm just not a Florida fan , I don't know but is

31:33

it so important to

31:35

have that view , have

31:38

your toes in the sand for that risk

31:40

? I don't think so . I

31:44

think the world is a beautiful place and

31:47

I had no choice , right . So I was

31:49

born here because my parents came here . But

31:51

if I had a choice and

31:53

I do I

31:56

wouldn't stay here . I would definitely

31:58

not stay here .

32:00

So , as some parting advice , then

32:02

, what would you tell people who

32:04

are thinking of moving here or

32:06

that go ? Hey , my dream is to live

32:09

at the beach . I'm retiring , I'm

32:11

gonna take everything and buy this place right by

32:13

the water . What advice would you have for people

32:15

?

32:18

Well , you know , it's coming from a point

32:20

of sadness

32:23

and it's coming from a point of a person

32:25

who actually , you know , lived

32:29

a tragedy and I would say

32:31

come visit

32:33

, but don't buy anything . You

32:36

wanna enjoy the beach ? Come visit , sure

32:38

great , put your toes in the sand . I

32:41

wouldn't invest in anything here . I

32:43

mean , I

32:45

just go back to my 89-year-old dad who

32:49

was just a regular guy

32:51

, a barber when he

32:53

was a kid , a barber

32:55

and a singer and then a cop

32:58

. And then he had this dream

33:00

to have and he had several

33:02

places . They had one in , they had

33:04

places in Pembroke Pines , they

33:06

had places in Key Largo , we had places

33:09

here in Fort Myers Beach , and

33:12

now we have nothing . And I mean I can't

33:14

even imagine some person coming

33:16

after they've retired and worked their whole life

33:18

and taking the chance to

33:20

. But I just would

33:23

not do it . Come and visit , really . Come visit

33:25

. That's good and help the businesses

33:27

grow that are here

33:29

on the beach . Come visit , but I wouldn't buy anything

33:31

. Stay where you are , come visit

33:34

.

33:35

It's like people who have older people , who

33:37

have grandkids , and they find that so

33:39

much easier than their kids because you get to

33:41

send them back . So you go to the beach for the day

33:43

, but then you go home someplace safe

33:45

yeah yeah , Is

33:48

that weird , but I think that's a good .

33:50

I think so .

33:52

I don't know if it's weird because , to be honest

33:54

with you , I love living in Florida

33:56

. I'm terrified of what can happen because

33:59

of all I've been doing with my job

34:01

, so I'm very aware

34:03

of the dangers , but I haven't moved yet

34:05

, so I'm just as guilty

34:08

as everybody else .

34:09

Right , and you came here . You came here from

34:11

New York . Where'd you come here from ?

34:13

I came here from Texas , where we happened

34:15

to live in a neighborhood that

34:18

was not gonna flood . It was safe . And now we're

34:20

living in a place that every time there's a hurricane

34:22

, we're in a flood zone . Now we have what

34:25

we think is a safe house , but you never

34:27

know .

34:28

No , no , you never know . I

34:31

mean you can . I remember my

34:33

first house in the 1960s

34:36

, and it was . My dad built this

34:38

house and it was a sturdy house

34:40

. I'm not gonna lie , it was a sturdy house . We lived through

34:42

many hurricanes , but it was in a

34:44

completely different area . It wasn't on the beach

34:46

, it wasn't on the water , it was inland

34:48

and it was a rock

34:51

solid house . It still stands today and it was

34:53

built in 1960

34:55

. They don't make houses like that anymore

34:57

. I'm not gonna lie . Every house

35:00

is a stick house . I'm watching them build

35:02

new houses somewhere here in Fort Myers

35:04

and there's still sticks . How do they get

35:06

away with it ? I don't know . Why are people buying

35:08

them ? Cause they're cheap ? I don't know , not one

35:10

.

35:11

That's it exactly . That's why , first of all , shame

35:13

on whoever's building it . I had a

35:16

guy interviewed recently , a builder

35:18

here in Tampa who won't build

35:20

houses that he doesn't deem safe , that he

35:23

has a standard that he says look , I'm not gonna

35:25

build unsafe houses , but

35:27

I think that it starts with us . We have to demand

35:30

it , because somebody's always gonna try to make a living

35:32

and sell you something you

35:34

don't have to buy it .

35:36

Right , right , right , that's

35:38

right .

35:40

You can use that as the title of your book if you want . You don't have

35:42

to buy it .

35:43

Oh , I love it . I

35:46

love it . I'm working on the title

35:48

right now .

35:50

Okay , well , hey , Trixie I like that . You

35:52

were great when we interviewed you . I'm so sorry

35:54

for what you're going through . Thank you so much for coming

35:57

on today . I wanna let people

35:59

know how to get in touch with you , which , if you email

36:01

me that , I'm gonna put it in the show notes and

36:03

so people can follow you . So when that book comes out

36:05

they can read it , and I want you to definitely

36:07

get me a copy . I'm not asking for a free one . I

36:09

definitely will buy your book . Oh , I love it , but I look

36:12

forward to reading that as well .

36:13

Oh , good , good , good , yeah , thank you so

36:15

much . Thank you for having me . Really You're

36:17

doing great work and keep it going

36:19

, because I think the more you put

36:21

the word out there , maybe somebody will listen

36:24

.

36:25

Thanks , trixie , take care . Thank you for

36:27

joining me today . If you have a story about

36:29

your home , either good or bad , I'd love

36:31

for you to share it with me . There's a contact

36:33

form in the show notes . Fill it out . You

36:36

might be a guest on an upcoming podcast

36:38

. Thank you again for listening . See

36:41

you next time .