rose petals and soccer balls

the problem with hurricanes

i tend to be an optimist.

well, i guess that's part of the problem.

one day, i woke up on a sunday morning and looked out my bedroom window and saw a wasteland in place of my backyard.

the sky was gray,
trees were laying horizontally on the ground (the wrong way, i'm certain),
and the streets were coated in mud and water.

my parents were so upset that morning.
instead of helping me tuck my baggy jeans into my rainboots, they were calling friends and family members, to help them with the mess
i think the basement flooded.
plus, a tree was knocked over in our driveway (not a good sign, for sure).

you see, the problem with hurricanes is this -
they arrive suddenly, the warning signs start to trickle in
first it's the wind, then, the cloudbursts
downpours and thunderstorms rampaging the sky
and,
just like that,
it's gone.

and you're left to pick up the pieces.

the problem with hurricanes is that they don't teach you how to deal with one.
there's no class, there's no obligatory parent chat about how to clean up after a storm (a talk much preferred to the birds and the bees, certainly).
no one ever talks about how to clean up or how to help others after a hurricane knocks down a tree in their yard.

my first hurricane alone, i didn't know what to do.
my optimistic tendencies led me to believe the storm was nothing but a drizzle
leading me to be shocked and confused by what followed.

i was distraught by the collapsed branches, the muddy brown river streaming down my driveway, and the patches of wet on my ceiling making puddles in my house.

i didn't call for help.
hell, i was terrified to.
i didn't want to be that one who didn't know what to do.

so, clearly, the problem with hurricanes is this -
they come too fast and they're gone too soon.
does anyone, really, know what to do?
or are we all just pretending, picking up fragments from our parents' fragments of knowledge?

loud and ruthless, they arrive
the aftermath is silent, uncomfortably so -

and all too familiar.

...

yes, i think that's the problem with hurricanes.