Storm

After a storm settles is the hardest.

The first responders have gone back to their daily lives and you are left there with the brokenness all by yourself.

Sure, there are friends and family to call. There are momentary escapes from the wreckage in the form of a brief outing. There are even the rogue distractions we call chores, our own daily lives. But then, inevitably, comes the quiet.

We eventually have to put the phone down. We have to come back home, and we can only organize the junk drawer so many times.

You think the debris flying everywhere, hail pelting you in the face, and loss of power is going to be as bad as it gets. But it turns out, the cleanup is much, much harder.