THE LIVE OAKS
I grew up in the Ortega Point in Jacksonville, Florida from when I was less than a year old until I was going off to college. My home, as well as the others, were covered with huge live oaks trees with a diameter wider than I was tall. I loved all the huge trees, as they were great for climbing and injuring ourselves on and provided much needed shade during in the hot seasons of Florida. These trees also were homes to several raccoons and possums, which would eat the plants in the garden and get into fights with our dogs.
LIVING IN ORTEGA
THE PARKS
We had a large circular park, filled with huge live oaks and shrubs, in the middle of our neighborhood where all the kids would meet to play. Jacksonville is the largest city in the United States based on land size, which means walking anywhere is nearly impossible, with the exception of my elementary school. My brother and I would meet the other kids at this circle park in the mornings and we would all walk to elementary school together.
THE RIVER
Our home is also close by to the local St. John’s River, which was a huge river and a staple of Jacksonville. We used to have lots of fun swimming in this river, but in the recent years the intense amount of pollution and an increase in dangerous aquatic species living in the river have stopped us from doing so, and I even know quite a few people who have contracted seriously bad diseases from swimming in the river.
THE HURRICANE SEASON
​One day while we were at school, hurricane Katrina hit. Hurricane season was a normal reoccurring thing in our neighborhood, but this one was worse than most. The teachers wouldn’t let us leave the school and walk home, but my brother and I decided to sneak out and try to ourselves.
​It was more of a swim home than a walk, as the streets were extremely flooded. We didn’t have school for close to a month after that, and all the kids would go swimming and canoeing in the flooded roads of the neighborhood. It also caused a majority of our neighbor's docks to wash away into the river. Luckily all the homes were built with hurricanes in mind, and had large foundations that prevented the homes from flooding.
THE FALLING TREES
Hurricanes and bad thunderstorms and rain were something that occurred frequently in Florida, and only a few of those storms ever actually left some sort of significant damage to our home.
In this past summer, it actually rained so much that one of our live oaks fell onto our house because its branches became so damp and heavy, and about 30 other live oaks fell in the neighborhood as well. It caused over $20,000 in damages to our home, and weighed over 12 tons, requiring expensive tree removal. We lost power to our home almost every day of summer from these trees in our neighborhood falling on power lines. This was the first time these storms ever actually hurt our home and the rest of our neighborhood.
