In Which We Brace for a Hurricane
One would think the title a good metaphor for something while living in Southern California, and one would be wrong. We are literally bracing for a hurricane. Hurricane Hilary is moving up the coast along the Baja peninsula. Thanks to warmer than usual waters, the heat bubble over the Midwest, and a low-pressure column along Northern California, we have a Category 4 hurricane being sucked in toward land instead of turning back toward the sea before it hits California as usual.
It will likely not still be a Cat 4 when it reaches us, but there are Tropical Storm watches issued for the coast, and flooding predicted for much of SoCal. They are saying we may get a year's rain in just a couple days. I am still waiting for the 100-year flood which is late and usually follows a bad drought. Maybe it isn't happening because of climate change. Maybe it will be worse because of climate change, who knows.
COVID cases are also climbing again. It's a slow climb, but it's a new variant and it IS climbing. It's disheartening. I felt for a long time as if I was being prepared for something catastrophic and I was waiting for the catastrophic thing to happen... I think this is it... the combination of "post"-pandemic and the continued effects of climate change together has set us on a terrible path. I don't think I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop anymore. The other shoe dropped, we just always live in uncertainty now and anything can happen tomorrow. My life up to this point has prepared me for sudden disaster and made me fairly resilient to it and able to make the split-second decisions that will be necessary.
Overall, though, I feel surprisingly good at the moment. It's amazing what a shift in hormones can do. I wish I could feel like this most of the time. Maybe I will post-menopause. Can I make it happen early?