Growing up in Shallotte, I never knew how lucky I really was to be so close to the beach. If you don't know where Shallotte is, don't worry you're not the only one. Shallotte is about 40 minutes south of Wilmington and 40 minutes north of Myrtle Beach. It's also about 10 minutes from Ocean Isle Beach, which is where I have spent most of my summers.

When I got to college, I would have to explain to people where I was from all the time. The most frequent response I would get was "Wow, you're so lucky you live right at the beach!". I never looked at it that way because, for 21 years, I have had a beach 10 minutes down the road from me. It didn't seem so special to me. But then it started to hit me that so many people never had that luxury, and some people have never even been to the beach before.

With the event of Hurricane Florence, it started to hit me even more now how blessed I am to live near the beach. My hometown has never experienced a Category 4 hurricane, and thankfully when Florence made landfall it was only a Category 1. It later was considered a tropical storm, which was even more of a blessing to our area.

The storm still made a huge impact on our beaches, taking out piers and causing extreme flooding. But it could have been so much worse than it was, and we are so blessed to have made it through.

Knowing that your home is about to experience a catastrophic storm can make you appreciate it so much more and think about all the good memories you have of it. I have lived in the same house for 21 years, and it would have been so sad to see it damaged by the storm. Thankfully, we ended up only having a few trees and limbs fall down, and they weren't near my house.

Unfortunately, there were many areas that did get a lot of damage from the storm. So many people in my county have water damage in their houses, they were out of power for days, and still have not been able to return to their homes. The community has really come together to help those in need and do all that they can to return to normalcy.

Seeing how much everyone has been there for each other is another thing that makes me feel so thankful for my Shallotte. It will take time, but with the support that has been shown, it will all come back together soon.