Luck’s Good Side
Lady Luck is a fickle friend. She can lead you to a new love, a new home, and a new beginning. But Luck’s good side can flip to bad as quickly as lightning strikes in a storm-filled sky. Austin Klein and Jessica Zuback counted their blessings when good luck struck time and time again. It was Lady Luck that brought them together in the first place… that, and cold weather.“I was tired of the cold up north,” Austin starts his story, “when, luckily, I got an opportunity to be a chef in the Keys. I packed up whatever would fit in my car and headed straight down.” Jessica’s story starts the same way. “I was tired of the cold up north when I decided to visit a friend in South Florida. We were lying on the beach when out of nowhere she suggests we go check out the Keys.” Lady Luck clearly had plans for them both, as she pushed the two together on Jessica’s trip to the Keys.
The Trek Down South
“As soon as I met Austin, I knew I had a best friend for life,” Jessica says with a smile. They spent her entire vacation together and didn’t miss a beat when Jessica returned home to Michigan. “We kept talking and even falling asleep on the phone every night. It wasn’t long before we realized we wanted to wake up together, too.”Exactly one year after the day they met, Austin and Jessica married. They boated their closest friends and relatives to the small island of Boca Grande, where they said their vows and celebrated in true Keys’ fashion with good food, good drinks, and even some good fishing. After the wedding, they moved back North to be closer to Jessica’s family, but as soon as the cold struck, they said, “Oh no, not this again!”When their lease was up, they moved back to the place Lady Luck had introduced them. They settled in Tavernier so they could enroll their son in the excellent Plantation Key School system. And thankfully, in 2017, Lady Luck was still on their side.
Too Close For Comfort
As Hurricane Irma approached, Austin and Jessica packed up their car yet again. This time with their son, Tyler, Jessica’s brother, his girlfriend, two dogs, and a hamster. They left, not knowing if they’d have a home to come back to. “Driving back home through the devastation after Irma was scary. By the time we reached our street, we were bracing ourselves for the worst,” Jessica explains. “We couldn’t believe it when we saw our home virtually untouched. Not even our lawn chair had blown over! We were very, very, very lucky.” Austin and Jessica vowed to never rely on Lady Luck again. And thankfully, she has made it easy to keep that promise.
Make Your Own Luck
Austin and Jessica recently joined the Wright’s Impact Window and Door team in Tavernier as a product specialist and field marketer, respectively. They also recently bought their first home, and immediately ordered hurricane windows to replace their old, outdated hurricane shutters. “We are so lucky to work at Wright’s,” Austin says. “Our team is amazing, and you couldn’t ask for a better customer base than in the Keys. Everyone is so friendly and never make you feel bad for knocking on their door. They seem to understand that we are there for them and want to help keep them and their home safe.” As hurricane season begins, Austin and Jessica encourage everyone to invest in hurricane windows and doors, saying, “Don’t leave it to Lady Luck!”
– Jerrica Mah is a writer, Army wife, and freelance book editor, who loves to travel with her family.