My family and I were planning to meet up in Orlando for Fall Break. I am a college student in Virginia and they were coming all the way from Costa Rica. It was a nice thing to think that I was going to see my family in a few weeks and that we were all going to Disney together and have an awesome time!

My family got there on Sunday and on Tuesday morning I got the news about Hurricane Matthew and the disasters everyone was expecting for Florida. My flight was scheduled for Thursday morning, but I realized that I was going into the Hurricane for break, instead of going to the opposite direction. I also realized that we were probably not going to be able to go to Disney. Obviously, that made me sad. But hey, at least I was going to get together with my family, right?

Thursday morning I woke up at 5 a.m. to texts of some friends wishing me good luck on my trip, and some others telling me to make sure my flight was not being cancelled. I was really impressed that they were up that early just to make sure I was ok, and that I was not heading to the airport just to find out that my flight was cancelled. I checked on the flight and everything was running normally. So I headed to the airport and while I was boarding I got more texts of family, boyfriend, and friends wishing me a good and safe flight to Orlando. Those texts made me smile and remember that I have great friends who care for me!

I got to Orlando safe and sound. It was raining but nothing else. I reunited with my family who had already gone to cool places without me in the past few days haha! We were all aware of the weather conditions and so we had the news on and always checking the internet to see if it was going to get worse. My parents were getting texts from friends in Costa Rica who were concerned about the hurricane and our safety. My heart was full of gratitude once again for friends and their love toward us.

Friday morning my cellphone was blowing up with text messages and missed phone calls of a lot of people. I just woke up so late that I couldn’t answer them on time. But I just can’t explain how loved and cared for I felt. I always knew I had really good friends, but I guess sometimes things like this remind us to never stop being grateful for all of them.

My family and I were okay, and we just spent most of the day in the hotel. It was a trip to not only grow closer together, but also to be reminded of the quality of people that care for us. Sometimes we are just so overwhelmed by stuff that we don’t remember some friends, or we just prefer to be with a few of them. When in reality, it is in situations like this where only true friends show up and are willing to help just to make sure we are okay.

In the midst of disaster and chaos, for which I am sorry for the people that were badly affected by it, I learned to never forget the good friends and appreciate every one of them. I am grateful that my family and I were not alone and that we had lots of people to count on during the storm.

Thank you, friends!