NPR interviewed a Texas woman yesterday who - along with her husband - decided to ignore the mandatory evacuation and stay at their home during the storm. Although they had boarded up their house, the couple couldn't help but crack open their front door to watch what was going on outside. "...And there goes part of the greenhouse roof..." she happily relayed to the interviewer.
What is it about storms that makes us want to be a part of them?
I remember living in post-Andrew south Florida and the urgent excitement that was in the air as people collected their batteries, candles and gallon jugs of water for an impending hurricane. When the storm veered away from the area and downgraded there was a strange sense of loss as people removed the plywood from their windows and went back to their offices and rush hour traffic.
Maybe storms remind us of the primal battles that we once fought for survival vs. something bigger than ourselves. Something that had the power to unify people in one collective, under qualified, underdog mass against it, vs. against each other. A chance to battle a more worthy and exciting adversaries than rush hour traffic. Or an automated 411 directory voice that insists, "You said, 'McDonald's'" when you request the number for "library."
The picture above is of my friend Nathan "Weatherman" Weathington, who is passionate fly fisherman. The picture reminds me of how we are often drawn out into the weather with fascination and quixotesque flirtations when self preservation should tell us to take cover, go inside, or follow a mandatory evacuation.
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