Stormy weather

Anticipating something bad isn't fun. At first this kinda reminded me of waiting for Hurricane Iniki - trapped on an island with nowhere to go. But that isn't quite it - we were about as far inland as you can get on Oahu, on high ground, in barracks built in 1903 with 18" concrete walls designed to withstand shelling. We all knew we would be fine.

Then I remembered something I hadn't thought about in years - waiting for an especially bad storm in west Texas. My roommate and I were sitting out on the balcony watching a sick green sky, just waiting for the proverbial sh^% to hit the fan. It was tornado weather and those are no joke. It's that sense of being utterly helpless in the face of mother nature. You can do some preparing, you may have some advance notice, but moments like that leave you feeling like a speck in the universe. We were (obviously) fine, but it feels a bit like that now.

Not every minute - a lot of this has felt strangely relaxing - being forced to slow down, being given the gift of time. But watching the sky and knowing a storm is coming and there are no guarantees for any of us.