Natural Disaster Love Machine

I can already hear the unmuffled groans and see the eyerolls from my friends as I type this, but in the spirit of transparency, I must say something about the times that I feel the most hopeful for love and sweetly anxious toward What May Come. (someone slap me)

As seasons change, and our planet squeaks and whines through the abuse of us, the inevitable result seems to be a series of natural disasters.  It seems that as civilization powers on and we burn another year's worth of fossil fuels, Mother Earth is more and more losing her patience with us.  So I guess she is lashing out in the only way she knows how.  Enter the recent years' string of natural disasters.  The hurricanes, tornadoes, mudslides, sinkholes, and earthquakes.

Now now, I know that no one really likes a natural disaster.  It can be horrible.  Lives are lost, homes are destroyed, people displaced and landscapes ruined forever.  I get that completely, and I am in no way downplaying the horrific scene painted by these events.

I am, however, a little weirdly giddy about a mild natural disaster.  I'm talking like, an ice storm, or a wimpy tornado..... a three day blizzard.  Just a small burst of weather inconvenience to change the routine of a city and force people together in unexpected ways.   I just think that there is something beautiful and fun about an entire area being compelled to look up form their tablet screens and board up some windows.  There's a buzz in the air as people all gather supplies and 'hunker down to wait'.  Friends smush together at the house with the most board games and take turns winding the hand-crank-powered flashlight.  Am I a monster??

I just think that a change in routine always brings about great stories and meet-cutes.  When such disasters strike across the nation, I am always glued to the newscasts, not for updates on the latest progress of cleanups for cloud movements, but for the human interest stories that inevitably emerge from the sandbag precessions.

{photo source}

When Sandy hit NYC, the second thought I had after worrying about those little NICU babies without their incubators, was that that was the best city to be caught in a hurricane.  That huge vat of people will be huddled everywhere, and you just know unlikely pairs will all be touching each other and falling in love.   There's a reason why there's always a surge in births 9 months after a natural disaster, people!  Citizens are forced to look up from their lives and notice the people around them.  Isn't it a beautiful by-product?  I remember seeing those photos of homeowners stretching extension cords out of their houses for passersby to charge their phones, and thinking, I bet so many people are meeting and falling in love in front of a charging station.

So the next time Seattle is hit by torrential rains (that never happens), or geologists start harping about 'The Big One' rocking the Space Needle into the Pacific, y'all can come on over to my place.  I have jenga, cider, and probably the cuddliest blankets.  Bring someone cute and witty, with a great chin, along.