a satellite takes a photo of hurricane lane.

the hurricane looked ominous, then it passed, far enough away that the lights at home did not flicker. spinning off into the sunset, the problem was not ours any longer. for a brief few days it was something that came into our lives. we gathered food, parked our car on higher grounds, taped the windows and created a plan just in case the emergency found its way into our home. at times, as the news poured in of possible destruction i wondered if we were prepared. with only three cases of water, our four guest would have to conserve, rationing would need to take place. one after another, the stores in the neighbourhoods began to close, grocers that normally open 365 days a year shut their door. we would enter and gather what my imagination had us eating in times of no gas or lights, canned foods and boxes of noodles. it would not taste ideal, but we would make it.

should crisis come the vail of who we are would come off quickly. the brave, hidden away with their personal belongings and the monsters free to roam and pillage. in my mind the quiet ones will come out to help while the loudest and strongest clam up and internalise the threats with coma like actions. imagine a society no longer stitched together with the fabric of laws and rules that keep us together. our true friends we find when they you are in need, our true selves will come out when we are all in need. lets hope this day does not confront us, in this sense ignorance is bliss. i do not want to know what will happen when humanity becomes desperate.

at all times this is possible, for things to flip on its side. it is why life should feel precious, why one should savour the quiet moments, the times you are not in pain or scared. can one live like that? you can do some things. you can stop doing the things you do not like, stop seeing the people you do not care for and stop acting ways you do not enjoy. so difficult it is too live this way, it seems as though we have to break our legs or fall into some tragic story to realise that we were so lucky before. tell a man to be happy and he will glare at you with resentment and stay sad, torture that same man for a week and let him go and happiness will overcome him.

anticipating the storm