Hurricane Force Winds

Yesterday our part of the world suffered it’s third day of 133 km an hour winds and all I can say is that I hope this is not the kind of winter we can expect for the next 5 months!  Mid week I was still downtown for most of the winds and only saw the devastation second hand but yesterday I experienced rattling house, vibrating garage walls and toppled trees first hand.  I became so nervous and restless I felt like one of those sensitive dogs that howl when they are near the home of a dying person.  I recalled the description of the devastating winds that blew over Colorado in that marvellous James Michener book “Centennial” where he wrote with foreboding of the agony of one woman’s desperation to have the winds stop that she finally shot all her children and then herself.  At least in our modern age we can connect with radio and television to discover what is going on in the rest of the world; we can hear sounds other than the wind screeching over the roof and shaking the rafters, eavestroughs and windows.

Nature is a powerful force, really the most powerful force on earth.  What good is money when you have water flooding in your basement for days and weeks on end; what good is money when you have no electricity and the meat rots in your freezer?  Sure you can call a plumber and an electrician but the agony in the short term is mind searing and nerve rattling.  And these are just the minor devastations that we go through.  We are so fortunate in this country not to have earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes or tsunamis killing thousands of people.  Food is only a shopping centre away for us; but we should thank our lucky stars that we are living in a safe country where things are fixable.  These were some of the things going through my head yesterday as I paced back and forth wondering whether the branches or eavestrough was going to crash through my new windows.

            Last night I had a talk with my best friend and we were both feeling kind of low, probably due to this dismal weather we had experienced all day, and in the end we agreed that we should still be grateful that we have our jobs and a steady income.  Oftentimes the things that help us out the most are the things we take for granted the most.  There are a lot of people without jobs these days, I feel very lucky to be one of the ones with a good job.  I have a lot of great friends who are supportive, generous, fun loving and kind.  Life is so unpredictable; it’s not Thanksgiving but I give thanks to all I have.  Life could be a whole lot worse.