After Hurricane Irma......

   I'm still in a state of mild shock. Whenever I go out into the yard and observe the trees it creates a strange 'shift' inside of me. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that the damage is a minimal as it is!  Things could have been sooooo much worse.   Now is the time to start coming to terms with all that needs to be done..... and actually starting to DO IT. But you see, it hurts my heart to look at all the branches that need to be cut off and trimmed out. Necessary, yes! But it still causes me to grieve. I guess that's because I have had so much to grieve over the last few years and I never had, or took, the time to do it.   
   Perhaps the storm damage feels personal because it mirrors the one I've been living in for so long.  I tried to prepare but when the feeder bands and squall lines came in again and again, they wore me down. The occasional tornadic activity didn't help any! I never knew when those were going to hit. And eventually the wind gusts took their toll, snapping limbs and scattering bits of my life all around. I lucked out though. In both cases, literal and figurative, the expected storm surge didn't come anywhere near me!  So I'll count my Blessings and get back to living my life.
    But something has changed.