get ready for the light
Normally, today I would do a This Was a Good Week post, sharing tons of smile-inducing posts from around the world. And I did find a few lovely links. But honestly, I’ve spent a lot of my spare time this week refreshing the National Hurricane Center’s website, keeping a close eye on Hurricane Florence. We don’t live on the East Coast obviously, but I have a few good friends who do; also, when you’ve endured similar circumstances in the past you tend to get twitchy about these sorts of things.
(Also, I’ve been watching the same thing happen on the other side of the planet, with super Typhoon Mangkhut. Is it me, or does Mother Earth seem more and more pissed every year?)
Anyway, because of my obsessive watching of these storms, I couldn’t bring myself to share happy links today — but I’ll return to doing so next week. I will, however, offer this to those who may have found themselves the target of these storms’ wrath:
As traumatic as it is to endure something like this, once the storm passes, you’re going to witness something incredibly beautiful. Not only will you see first responders and other heroic folks whose job it is to help during times like these do what they do best, you’re going to see friends, and family and total & complete strangers, many of whom you may never see again, step up to help in ways that will bring you to silent, awe-stricken tears. People will band together to share resources, send you supplies, cook you food. You will connect with people who endured what you’ve endured, and you’ll give each other emotional support in the long months again during your recovery. Recovery will be tough, but I promise: you will find moments of light.
Get ready to see it. The light is what will get you through.
In the meantime, hang in there, friends. American East Coast and the Philippines, stay safe. I’m sending you love and light.
P.S. If you’re not affected by these storms, here’s how you can begin to help Florence victims. It doesn’t appear that the Red Cross has anything set up for Typhoon Mangkhut yet, but this is the link to general disaster relief — I’ll update when there’s a specific link for the typhoon.
Also:
LifeHacker’s list of organizations on the ground in the Carolinas who are helping
More links from CNN and PublicGood.com of folks helping on the ground
Soundtrack: Here comes the sun, as performed by Demi Lovato