This is just the beginning.

It’s been a hectic couple of weeks. As many of you know, I have left Atlanta after living there for over 50 years. My plan is to make Asheville, North Carolina my east coast home base and spend a significant time in Northern California. We packed up and moved to Asheville and promptly jumped on a plane to California for a month or so. Listed my house in Atlanta and our plan was in motion. Then in the same week while in California, an offer was made on my Atlanta house and Hurricane Helene battered Asheville. I have spent the last 3 days fielding calls/messages from friends to check on me and my family. In turn, I have been trying to reach friends and colleagues in Asheville (our portco Ecobot is based there) with little success. As I have spent all weekend scouring the internet for information, it has been tough to get a sense of the devastation. One of the texts that I received from a friend was “do not come back anytime soon”. We in fact planned on coming back in the next 2 weeks. While we feel very fortunate that we were not there with our 2yo, we also cannot believe what has happened to the town and people that we fell in love with so much as to uproot ourselves and move there. All we can do is send our best thoughts from afar. Hopefully, you can do the same. Watching some of the pictures recalls the stench that I experienced when I was asked to be an expert witness for an insurance company post Katrina. I was in Biloxi for a few weeks, walking the casinos and buildings to determine what may have happened to each building and run 3D simulations of what may have happened. While Asheville is still in the midst of high waters, no power, no water, no cell service, etc., it’s not over, my mind goes to “what’s next?” My hope is that I will be able to participate in a way to support and rebuild Asheville. So what does this have to do with the Sunday Scaries? Perspective.

While on any given Sunday the rush of panic and fear of the week ahead can almost be debilitated, on a relative basis, these are high class problems. There are people in Asheville that are unsure of how they are going to live, make it to the Dr. etc this week. It’s important to understand that while we build companies with aspirations of success, thinking that we are “risking it all”, we are in fact risking very little. Some time, some money and some ego, is all that is at risk. My advice for this week.
1. Hug your loved ones.
2. Reflect on the things in your life that you hold precious.
3. Keep the families of all of those devastated by Hurricane Helene in your heart and bounce around how you can help in your head.
4. Make a list of all the things that you are stressed about this week. Write them down on a piece of paper. Set that piece of paper on fire.
If you are reading this, you are somehow involved in the built environment. While I want us to pause and reflect, I also know that you are all crazy smart, hardworking and passionate about our humankind. Like I said this last week, remember “why” you entered the AEC industry. It wasn’t to fill out time sheets, build BIM models or any of the other necessary work required to do our job. You joined this industry to make a difference. These are the moments that create movements. Study what has happened and see how you can help all those impacted. I think it will be a long road, which means cities like Asheville will need all the resources possible to get down that road together.
Peace