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Is anything more pure than sunlight streaming in through windows just relieved of their hurricane shutters? Is anything cleaner than the blustery gusts of confused wind in the immediate aftermath of a major storm?
Nature ushered in the recent change of seasons with an angry and dramatic flair. One week of foreshadowing, days of mounting tension, a finite eternity of stretched suspense, and twelve hours of relentless wrath. Wind shook and rattled, hissed and whined, singing the songbook of weather's superiority. Wind clawed and kicked, cursed and screamed, fighting for our unbroken attention. So many voices from one invisible phenomenon. Noise and night, closed eyes seeing nightmares, open eyes dreaming dark. Anxious bodies shifting in our beds, readjusting our pillows, whispering wordless prayers to convince ourselves the worst would soon be past. How many times, during that desperate night, did our thoughts drift towards all we take for granted? Electricity. Family. Houses to nest in. Health and well being. Livelihoods and lives. Usher yourselves back to the preparations. Think of the fuel lines and grocery lines. Ice and water. Batteries and flashlights. Evacuations routes and storm surges. Think of the humidity and storm shutters, the front page newspaper headlines, the endless hours of repetitive and unrewarding weather channel programming. We shuttered-up our houses to cocoon us from the storm, and our hours of metamorphosis changed what was outside as much as what was in. This short-lived, restless hibernation woke us from our solitary summer. We emerged from our confinement to a tropical autumn and in-season crowds, snowbirds and tourists, dryer and cooler, nature shed its skin, the cycle continues, always coming around again. Think about it. Un-shutter your houses and clear the debris from your Floridian yards. Put another notch in your belt. You live in paradise, you've paid your dues, and you've got another story to tell. These are the moments that make up our lives. Don't take them for granted. |
