METAMORPHOSIS: Building the Dome of a Home

I have learned to be mostly unattached to my physical items. Sentimental items are different.
But, losing my stuff in numerous storms taught me how quickly those things can be taken away.
If I allow my identity or security to be wrapped up in them, then I am screwed. There would be
nothing left of my identity by now. I won't pretend that I just say "Oh, well, it's just stuff." I grieve,
but I just try to stay on guard to not get stuck there. Sometimes I am successful, sometimes I am
not. Some days I can see the perfection in the web of life; some days I am convinced it is just a
tangled mess of chaos. The days when I am elated by my ability to trust the process, magic
happens.
For instance, the other day we were finally ready to have the landscaping and the pool installed.
The landscapers could come out quickly, but we needed to find a bobcat to ready the lot for the
pool. With a swiftness that stunned me, a bobcat appeared across the street. The operator said
his job had been delayed and we were welcome to use it for the next couple of days.
YEEESSSSS!!!! I love it when that happens. It‟s these times that remind me I should 'trust the
process' and it's going to be okay - I am going to be okay.
Recently, my granddaughter pointed out a book to me and said "Grandma, you should get that
book." I trusted her intuition and placed it upon my growing stack of books. That little angel
delivered some words of wisdom to me that I needed. In the introduction of this book was the
following gem:
"And no matter what we experience, we always have the free will to respond with love or with
fear. …rise above your fear based emotions and learn to experience life with unconditional
acceptance – without expectations, judgment, blame or the need to control others."
Dick Sutphen.
I am encouraged when things fall in place, when it seems like I am in the groove. The elation of
those times is the fuel for the battery that sustains me when the storms of life pummel me.
Staind's lyrics to FALLING remind me that I must pick myself up or allow myself to drown – but is
a choice only I can make.
… falling is easy it's getting back up that becomes the problem,
If you don't believe you can find a way out, you become the problem,
And if you believe can find a way out then you've solved the problem
This hurricane season, I am hoping and praying that there won't be any problems to solve. And if
there are, let's encourage each other to take it one moment at a time. Be strong for someone
and when you need someone to lean on, the favor will be returned.
Hurricanes are life changing events – period. A storm affects me down to my soul's core. After
the storms, I reevaluated my entire life, asking: what is essential to my well-being; what is a
restraint; what is worth saving and keeping in my life; what doesn't really matter in the whole
scheme of things; what do I value and why? Examining my life helps me to heal, to find purpose
in the madness, and to make sense out of the senseless.
But, for a community to heal, both emotionally and physically, the need for decisive and clear
direction from our leaders, is imperative. Those directly involved with the storm are in shock and
suffer from post traumatic stress. We need to remember that local officials are not immune to the
stress. We have to have compassion for our officials and remember that they are humans who
are traumatized – just like we are. I can't imagine having to make decisions for my family and
everyone else's too. When my kids are frightened and scared, I remember that the officials'
families need reassurance, as well. So many demands in so many directions, how do they do it?
Everyone's entire world is turned upside down and all parameters of normalcy have dissipated in
the rising winds. I am not pointing fingers or placing blame at anyone's feet. It's unfair to insist
that the local officials should have known what to expect. Today, they'd know what to expect.
Hindsight is a valuable tool. But, at the time of Hurricane Katrina, the local leaders' personal lives
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