I have to be careful about admitting this because people will throw rocks at me. There’s something about hurricanes that I just love. Two somethings.
First of all, there’s the raw power of Mother Nature. For all the technological savvy that we have and the ability to watch tiny disturbances in the Atlantic grow over weeks into monster storms and still not be able to control the outcome? In a way, I love that humanity has NOT conquered nature. That’s probably why I loved writing about using weather as a weapon in Dark Revelations.
That doesn’t mean that I am gleeful over the destruction of hurricanes and tropical storms, just very reverent. I’ve lost property in storms, too, so my admiration for storms isn’t mutually exclusive of compassion for the victims.
Tropical Storm Fay was truly “the joker” of a storm, and even today I was talking to my relatives 2 to 3 hours east of here and they were still getting tons of rain, navigating overturned oaks in the streets, and wondering how many more days of it…while I sat in sunshine and wondered where the storm was. We’ve had the same conversations for three days straight. I’ve been through many, many hurricanes, and each is very different. This storm lost its southwestern quadrant–where my home is–and double up on the north and eastern sides. I guess part of me loves that Mother Nature isn’t always predictible. And yeah, after Ivan, Opal, and Katrina, I’m still rather terrified of hurricanes.
The second thing I love about hurricanes is the weather when they’re gone. I never see the sky as blue and clear as I do the day after. It’s like all the Southern humidity gets sucked up into the cyclone as it spins away from me. Today has been absolutely gorgeous!
I can appreciate better the storms in my life by observing these hurricanes. I’ve know the sheer power of change and the turmoil and devastation of all that churning of energy. There are still smaller storms that come and go in my life but after that last big one, it feels like the sun’s come out again and the sky is bluer than it’s ever been.
I’ve been having one of those sunshine-times, one of the post-storm periods, in my life recently. It’s a sunny period that’s open and clear and the air feels clean. Life is (previously) uncharacteristically social right now, and idealistic, with lots of upbeat female friends coming into my life and more interesting men to date than I have chosen to make time for.
For those of you who remember the early days of my journals when I was dodging lightning on a daily basis, you understand why I am in such awe of storms. It’s the power to make vast changes…and the way the air clears when it’s all done.
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