irma

You did your best to mess with us. You left a lot of damage in your path. I am one of the fortunate ones and so I am going to speak for those who don’t have a voice right now. I realize that life is unpredictable and chaos is inevitable. I also know that regardless of your fury mankind can and does prevail. I see it in the faces of my neighbors who are helping one another with clean up, regardless of any silly differences they might have had in the past. I watched it in Houston as volunteers poured in to help rescue strangers from Harvey. I witness the commitment and strength of first responders, who leave their families to ensure the safety of other families.

You had help from some of the same resources we look to, to keep us safe. Yes, the television and radio news shows warn us of potential threats. Social media allows us to check in on one another. Still, both of those help to ramp up our anxiety levels. There is almost a palpable excitement that exudes from reporters as they interview every  and any one they can find regarding your fury. There are numerous people posting and reposting misinformation by the carload of what to do in order to protect themselves and their belongings. Nonstop check- ins with icons of worry. My phone rang, pinged, dinged and continually interrupted my meditations with people who really love me and were checking to see if I had yet perished because of what they were watching, reading and hearing.

Our ancestors are survivors. Proof of that is the existence of me, my family, friends, neighbors and everyone here on this planet. Whether we descended from Vikings, Aztecs, Mesopotamians or any other continent or culture, we are here because we have survival in our very DNA.  While you and your cohorts tried to create a false sense of reality in our heads, I refuse to give you that power over me. What is more, I encourage my fellow survivors to do the same. We will come together and rebuild our lives. We will aid those who lost more than we did, because we are connected, we are humanity.

You gave us some gifts that I am not sure you had intended. First of all, you left many of us without power, but you didn’t leave us powerless. I opened my doors and the temperature was perfect, the breezes gentle. I enjoyed sitting on my porch and listening to the quiet. Because I have taken social media off of my phone, I had peace. At night the stars were glorious. I slept better than I can remember.  I am grateful to have my phone, never knew how much I love hearing the voices of loved ones. Still, I had time to ponder just what does matter in my life.

We laughed because we could. We made puns and jokes and just allowed humor to chase away fears. We made up silly songs and danced to them. We waited, because we had to. However, creating possible doom and gloom scenarios wasn’t going to change you, just infect us. Therefore we did our best to remain as playful as possible.

Funny, all I had planned on saving were some pictures of family. Relationships matter so much more than stuff. Because of you, Irma, I am ready to continue to pare down the amount of stuff in my life. Less truly is more.

There are many fables in different cultures of how an individual has all the riches of the world, then loses them. As they face certain peril they are reminded that “this too shall pass” or that it is neither good nor bad, it just is. When the Hero realizes that just as wealth and power had passed, so too would uncertain peril, the hero finds themselves returning to a better situation. It is only as good or bad as our perception.  We all knew you would pass Irma, just not how you would do it. For our brothers and sisters in the hard hit islands, life is forever changed. People are resilient and help and love is being sent to them. I will do my best to offer my support to them just as I have the good people of Houston, in whatever small way I can. So, I guess you were a strong reminder that I want to remain connected to what matters and that is relationships I have and the ones I build going forward.

I am glad you are gone Irma and I send out prayers to everyone who was affected by you. Now it is time for me to be the love and the light, to take the lessons and gifts you gave and make this a better place because I can.

I normally close a letter with Take A Deep Breathe, but in your case Irma, I shall simply say, Good Bye!

Good Bye Irma

This was recorded without professional equipment and with limited time, but hopefully what it lacks in professional sound quality it will be made up for in comfort.