When Disaster Hits

PERSONAL

Living Through a Disaster

This isn't about me... but about a friend of mine.

Disasters haven't been a part of my life, other than the usual complications that come with growing up and dealing with life in general.

But giant disasters, the type you read about that destroy giant swaths of land and uproot many peoples' lives, but that I may not have personally experienced, have been generally ignored.

It isn't that I don't care... it's just that life happens and you get done what needs doing. That seems to take every waking moment.

Well, when it hits home is when a loved one is deeply affected. It can be family, or a really close friend.

My friend's family just lost their house. About a half million other people just lost theirs, or part of theirs, too, so her story isn't unusual. Except that she doesn't want to move forward. She wants to give up.

You see, she lost her beloved pet. And because she's so sensitive, she thinks she can't deal with any more trauma like what she just went through. People might think she's an overly sensitive, snowflake millenial or z-gen.

But, I know better. She loved her pet more than words can tell, her home was the only saving grace after losing her father and then, her mother to a strange and rather awful man who now thinks he's her father, and the woods in the back of her home was the only place where she and her Benny Bigfoot pup found comfort, happiness, peace, and regrouping.

So now, she's lost. Very lost. How does a friend help another friend through a disaster? I don't know. But, I asked her to come stay with our family (it's ok with everyone in my home) for a while.

Sometimes, being with a really close friend can be a real comfort.

I hope she comes... I think I can make her laugh. And, maybe we'll work on getting a Benny 2. He will not ever take the place of Benny 1. But, life goes on. And new loves can replace the old ones. Not the memories... not the feelings, just the comfort and joy and renewal.

I don't know. A lot of people have suffered recently, and it seems maybe lots more stuff is coming down the pike. For maybe all of us, one way or another.

I can see how we're all connected. My friend impacts me, my family, all my other friends, everything I do from here on forward.

We're all in this together, and every disaster is all of our disaster.

I could go on and on... but this is just a first article on Steemit. I will change the names of the innocent and those who prefer not to be in a giant, forever, blockchain...

which is a daunting prospect even though everything is forever anyway once is gets online. Right?

Thanks for reading. I'll let you know how my friend is doing. Her story is just one story out of millions. But, it's everything to me, right now.

-rayne

Note: I wrote this when I first signed up to Steemit. It didn't post at the time, lost in the nethersphere. Things have changed since then; my dear friend has recuperated, and perhaps another Benny is in the works. She's grown, we've all grown. And we hear about disasters often in the news. We understand.