When will the storm be over? in Daydreaming on the Porch

And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.

― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

It’s 4:30 in the morning. I’ve just been reading about the “apocalyptic” smoke and wildfires in California, Washington and Oregon. My sister in Washington has had to stay indoors. The air pollution in Seattle and San Francisco is so bad it’s like smoking 25 cigarettes a day. Three million + acres burned in California alone. Climate scientists predicted these effects from global warming decades ago, but few could have predicted these nightmarish conditions would arrive so soon, and with such intensity. And we’ve kept on dumping more and more carbon into the atmosphere, as if there was no end to he fossil-fueled party and the “good life” of the American Dream (Nightmare).

On the coast of South Carolina where I live, we’re nervously tracking five storms in the Atlantic, including a hurricane now heading to my hometown of New Orleans.

The coronavirus pandemic is in month 8 now with no end on sight.

Am then to add to this collective storm over humanity, a U.S. presidential election is not far away with many people, myself included, anxiously awaiting the news that Trump and his minions have been flushed down the electoral college sewer for good.

The convergence of all these factors at once can make life seem ever more surreal as the days tick by. In fact, everything about life seems different, a strange upheaval that makes planning for anything seem like an act of faith in a future more uncertain than ever with the pandemic quarantines, massive unemployment, business closures, and everything else.

Everything I had planned to do in retirement is on hold. I’m living one day at a time, waiting, listening, observing and hoping my time is not yet up. Why is this a daily concern? Because we’ve never lived through anything like this before. Whoever knew 2020 would mark the tipping point?

Last updated September 14, 2020