Calm and Damage After the Storm

On a calm winter day in Florida last year the clouds reflect on themselves about as much as I do post Hurricane Ian.  Two days ago Ian pummeled the area where we own a winter home.  The power and powerlessness of a hurricane is like no other.  Bridges were destroyed, boats flung onto the median in the middle of the road, palm trees and power lines litter sidewalks and roads.  Some structures burned.  A 72-year old guy lost his life trying to drain his pool in the middle of the Category 4 wind event.  Questionable choices but yet, others who may have lost their lives are yet to be found amongst the debris littering the beaches and neighborhoods.  The minor damage to our house is minimal in comparison and we are grateful.  We will get a new roof (which we needed anyway) and a new fence along with a new screen around the pool.  Once again, in these crazy times where COVID is still raging, our government officials yell and quarrel like elementary-school kids, inflation is rising to historic heights and we seem clueless as a country on how to manage our own borders, I remain optimistic and thankful for all this is good.  A friend tells me that today is sunny and 72 in Florida!  That's what I try to focus on, the calm after the storm, the clean-up after the damage.   In life and with our little winter abode on the canal in southwest Florida.