I have gone from Broward County Streets and Highways, Pompano, for the last time. The night trains to the east yet sound their whistles as they approach area streets and the brilliant Venus still keeps company with the rising moon. The minnows in the Zen pool of the Water Department still search for mosquito eggs and this night, as does every night, belongs to the nocturnal creatures passing through; the raccoon, the tree fox and the owl. It's a world, this area, hidden in the bright light of noon, yet busy with a life of its own. I loved the place when first I saw it. Perhaps, surrounded by so much urbanity and concrete, it was a touchstone to the rural area I relocated from in 1999. At any rate, it remained an anchor to me, a contractural employee, for over five and a half years; through uncounted violent storms and the devastation wrought by Hurricane Wilma.

Ordered from our red-tagged condo community after Wilma, I lived at an area motel and continued working. Six weeks later, we moved into an apartment and I needed to work more than ever because it fell to me to keep a roof over our heads while we continued to pay for a wrecked condo which was not being repaired. Two years passed in this fashion. And the hurricane season dealt gently with South Florida for an unprecedented twenty-four months. My husband developed melanoma several times and had surgery. Eventually, having enough of climate, allergies, and of just scraping by with too many responsibilities, we sold our condo to a developer and bought a single family home in Middle Georgia. It was time to move on.

Yet my heart was heavy, knowing even before we finalized plans to buy a new place, that I would miss working at Streets and Highways and feel a profound sense of loss knowing that the people I saw every morning would be staying in South Florida and that the odds were very much against us ever meeting again. But I would have my memories to cherish....of men and women working very late to bring back the rental trucks from the 2002 election, of bi-yearly auctions, of an unknown employee sharing Halloween candy with us several years ago and of an unexpected Christmas card from employees at the Commercial Blvd. location. I would remember the frantic times with FEMA contractors parked out front for several weeks and the departure of Al Kinsey, Mary Ford, Robert Clark, Richard Burkart, Juanita Walker, Jeff Meager, Don Rau, Pearl Thurston, and so very many others.

Please know that, in the years ahead, I will think of each of you often and fondly and that I will ever be grateful to those who were friends through so much and for such a long while. Each of us has had our own path, our own personal problems to attend to and yet we came together in wanting the best for Broward County Streets and Highways. As the days turn into years may you ever prosper and be safe and take care of one another.

Danny

Joseph

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Alix

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