Natural Disaster

My world has become unknown to me.

I find myself in a world that has been plagued by disaster. Tornados, floods and earthquake have changed the landscape into one unrecognizable. The horizon has shifted and I can't orient myself. Stable, recognizable features have been obliterated. The magnetic fields are altered and my compass swings wildly, uncontrollably. Even if I open my eyes to gaze numbly around, the ash from the volcano obscures my vision. I am lost; ungrounded.

Can I learn this new world? Will the sun peak through the layers of ash again? Can I find my way?

I try to identify new touchstones, new geograhpical markers. Can I trust them?

There is still ground beneath me, but how sound is my foundation? Will I step in quicksand or come to a fissure in the earth's crust that is too wide to cross?

I am not stumbling through this world alone. My husband is beside me. But if we don't hold onto each other, we can easily get separated. We fear this so much that we cling more tightly together. We are only anchored against the fierce wind by our combined weight. We have nothing else to tether ourselves to the ground and we have no shelter from the environment.

Sometimes a friend comes into our field of vision. Sometimes we catch a glimpse of a large group, but we can't catch up, we can't get their attention.

Others have walked with us for a spell. But their goals, their plans, lie in other directions. Sometimes our paths cross again and we check in with each other. We ask if they have found the way out. Yes, they know where the sun shines, but they can't tell us how to get there. Our dust storm is massive and follows us relentlessly.

We are adaptable. We will learn to survive in this new world. However, we will always miss the old one. Where the weather was boring and predictable, and where both the sun and the rain carried their own beauty.