Frankenstorm

Frankenstorm is scheduled to hit the Northeast today and in talking to family and friends out there I find my inner Rhode Islander feeling nostalgic for natural disasters. Not to minimize the fact that peoples’ safety is at stake but I do sometimes miss epic weather events. There’s something so electric about the way a great storm shifts our thinking; we always bow to Nature. This doesn’t exist in California, does it? There's a constant threat of earthquakes, I guess, but their unpredictability deprives us of my favorite part of the experience: The preparation. I love the Colonial America-ness of boarding up the house, securing the animals, collecting candles and preserved food. As my mother happily chimed over the phone yesterday, "I bought three gallons of ice cream so that when we lose power we have to eat it all!" This is the compass she's passed down to me. One of joy and abandon - enjoy the rhythm of the storm, wear pajamas all day long, huddle under pillow-y comforters and play board games by flashlight. Create festivity in the face of fear. Storms are a celebration of resilience. 

Certainly I wish for a mild storm and minimal damage. My closest loved ones are all on the East Coast and I would love nothing more than for this to blow out to sea... I also recognize that yesterday, as my parents were cleaning the gutters and filling the bathtub with water, I got sunburn while browsing fresh honey at the Farmer’s Market. I have nothing to complain about. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t once in a while wish for the occasion to join my mother in bundling up in an oversized sweatshirt, drinking hot chocolate and taping the windows :)