My grandmother just called to tell me that a tornado has been sighted in my local area. This, of course, was highly confusing regarding the fact that it’s sunny outside. Talk of the weather went on to the events in Louisiana and Mississippi…and looters. I don’t think I would loot, but then again, I also don’t know what I would do if all of my belongings were destroyed, either. At any rate, my thoughts over the past few days have been down on the Gulf coast.
I have weathered several hurricanes and have never forgotten that awful feeling much like Dorothy after she landed in the Wizard of Oz. Suddenly the wind stops, the banging of trees and debris ceases, and it’s just…. quiet. A quiet so loud it’s deafening because your heart is beating so hard anticipating what’s outside your front door.
So you try to turn the lights on, and they won’t work, hope that the water mains haven’t been snapped, and breathing in deeply, take a look outside. It, too, is quiet. Downed trees, breached roofs, broken glass, power lines crossing the roads like snakes, cars flattened, people tiptoeing around the rubble stunned and a bit blinded by the sunlight. It’s humbling in a way I can’t quite describe.
But each time, I felt like Dorothy, gobsmacked and lost in a world that seemed quite unlike how things looked a few hours before. My best wishes to those of you down by the Gulf. Even though craft helps through the tough times, sometimes it is little comfort to total destruction.