I know that hurricanes are horrible things, but to me, there's also a strange beauty to them...

For the ones I've been through, from where I was safe and sound inside... I found the sound of the constant winds comforting.

I can't explain it.

Some of the best sleeps happened during hurricanes... No TV or lights, the gentle candlelight illuminating the evening, the harsh winds constantly whispering in the background. It was sort of mediative for me, as nature itself forced me to disregard the mundane worries of life.

I've been lucky throughout the years, I've never had to deal with a blown roof or floods.

One of the most peacefully strange things that I've ever seen was once a hurricane passed through Southern Virginia late at night and there was the complete lack of sound and light. Pitch dark, no sound of bugs or birds. My wife and I just sat there on our stoop and drank in all the quiet.

Now that I've been back to Michigan for the last ten years, I haven't had to experience any of that.

Yet, I don't miss it at all and I never want to experience again.

May all the people going through Florence right now be safe and sound.

September 14, 2018