Mourning and Moving On From a Sinkhole in Seffner

Standing at the corner near her home at 242 Faithway Drive in Seffner, Lisa Jaudon watched as the home two doors away fell victim to the heavy equipment tearing it apart into shreds, the second home on the street to be torn down in the aftermath of the catastrophic sinkhole that claimed the life of Jeffrey Bush.

Her house would be next, standing to the east of what was once the Wicker home at 240 Faithway Drive, the site of the Feb. 28 sinkhole that had captured worldwide attention.

As she watched the Allen home, at 238 Faithway Drive, meet its fate, Jaudon said it had been nine weeks since she last stepped foot in the home in which she and her husband, Lonny, raised three kids, before his death almost seven years ago, at age 51.

"Even standing here now I can think of so many different things, all the times we sat around the table eating and praying with our chidren," Jaudon said. "One of my last memories of my husband is just about a month before he died, learning the news that we were going to be grandparents for the first time. But my husband, unfortunately, didn't live that long to hold him or see him, but he was excited."

It's memories like this that Jaudon said no sinkhole could claim. In the end, she said, a house is just a house, four walls in which a family builds its history. Still, she added, attention must be paid, because that structure was a home.

"It's not a longing but it will always hold a special place in our hearts," Jaudon said. "This was the bulk of where my daughter lived, we moved here a year after she was born. It's the only house she's ever known."

Lisa and Jolie Jaudon, 20, have moved to a home in Valrico, a result of the insurance settlement Lisa Jaudon said she realized after further tests were performed on her condemned home, to see if her house was at risk, too, of a catastrophic sinkhole, like the one that materialized next door.

"They haven't really said it's a sinkhole per se, but there's sinkhole activity, that's what's indicated, so the possibility is there," she said. "It's all related."

The night in February that the catastrophic sinkhole opened, Jaudon said her son saw the flashing lights of a fire truck from his front bedroom window. Soon came the knocks at the door, and the knowledge that the home would have to be vacated.

From their condemned home the Jaudons have been able to salvage most of their belongings, and most significantly Lonny Jaudon's poetry and art work and family photos and mementos. That is a blessing, Lisa Jaudon said.

A blessing, too, she said, is the faith that sustains her and the community support her family received from Cornerstone Baptist, the Fire Fighters Benevolent Relief Fund and Hillsborough County workers from various departments.

Now, it's time to let go, to leave behind a life in limbo, caught between what was and what's next.

"You just realize the memories will always be with you and you just little by little step away and walk away from it," Jaudon said. "No matter how hard it is, you just do it."

Losing a house "is like losing a person," she added. "You mourn it and then you just little by little begin to heal."

As for the threat of sinkholes, Jaudon takes it in stride.

"I've lived in Brandon for 54 years, I've known about sinkholes," she said. "This is the first time for us to experience one. Hopefully we'll go another 54 years and not experience another one."

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BRANDON PATCH SEFFNER SINKHOLE COVERAGE (Through May 23, starting with the most recent posts):

• Mourning and Moving On From a Sinkhole in Seffner

• Seffner Sinkholes: Demolition Set for 2 More Homes on Faithway Drive 

• Video: Inside the 'Catastrophic' Seffner Sinkhole

• Seffner Saga Continues With 4th Sinkhole Report

• 3rd Seffner Sinkhole Increases Community Concerns

• Another Sinkhole Opens in Seffner

• Community Aids Displaced Seffner Sinkhole Victims

• Memorial Announced for Sinkhole Victim

• Jaudon Family Displaced in Seffner Sinkhole Tragedy

• HuffPost Live Looks at Seffner Sinkhole Tragedy: 'Saving Us From Sinkholes'

• Seffner Sinkhole Video: 'In a Flash It Happens and the Whole World's Changed'

• Video: Final Walls Come Down on Seffner Sinkhole at 240 Faithway Drive

• 2nd Seffner Sinkhole Under Investigation as Stabilization Work Continues

• Seffner Sinkhole Homeowner: 'God Has a Plan'
  

• Seffner Sinkhole Victim Officially 'Presumed' Deceased

• Readers React to Seffner Sinkhole Tragedy

• Family Treasures Salvaged from Seffner Sinkhole Demolition
  

• Demolition Under Way at Seffner Sinkhole Site

• More Photos From the Seffner Sinkhole Site

• Seffner Sinkhole Operation Readies for Impending Demolition

• 3rd Home 'Compromised' at Seffner Sinkhole Site; Relief Fund Established

• Video: Deputy Douglas Duvall Recounts Seffner Sinkhole Heroics

• Situation 'Extremely Unsafe' at Seffner Sinkhole Site

• Family Member Recalls Horror of Seffner Sinkhole Tragedy

• Photos From the Scene of Sinkhole in Seffner

• Video: Hillsborough Fire Chief Discusses Seffner Sinkhole

• Hillsborough County Among Top 10 Sinkhole-Prone Florida Counties

• Update: Sinkhole Swallows Seffner Man Sleeping in Bed

• Video of Deputy Who Worked To Save Men From Sinkhole
  

• Video: Man Could Hear His Brother Screaming

• Video: Fire Chief Answers Questions             

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