Hurricanes and Pattern Recognition

There's more to the weather than just the weather.

This weekend I picked up a generous fare. Little did I know that she was generous in ways so much more than her contributions she was bringing to the Goodwill that day. She was... a woman who had far more depth than *just* the weather.

She was new to town and cleaning up. There had been a bit more that didn't need to make this journey with her. Some of it had even made cameos on television. But that's...

She had just gotten here to the world downtown. She was from far away.

Another world.

Another series of spaces.

Another coast even. 

And that was just the start of it all.

I wanted to hear her story.

"I'm just an unemployed meteorologist." she said with a smile and a laugh.

But she really wasn't even if she wasn't. She was something spectacular.

You see, she had come out here from the East coast with her partner and her Phillie's jersey. She had previously, most recently, worked as a meteorologist for the Weather Channel. She loved it and had done it after some things happened as a regular journalist. It was her second degree. She'd originally made her start as a news reporter but then had a change of heart.

"With journalism you don't get to smile a lot. It's all about chasing and pushing the lead story. But with the weather it's different. Weather effects everyone's life. People want and need it."

She lit up as she spoke. It was like a dark cloud had been lifted from things. 

And then there was talk about the current storm going on in Florida.... Hurricane Matthew.

She talked about how she was noticing the patterns. She was truly fascinated by it. She recalled the events of Hurricane Sandy.

"It was the biggest storm."

At this moment I thought about my mother who lives in Florida. I started to state that I felt compelled to text my mother later and ask her about how she's doing even though our relationship is... a bit less to be desired.

"At least the weather is a safe topic I can have with her. We don't really agree or see eye to eye on most everything/anything else."

She nodded and silently got it without even needing a further explanation.*

*Some of those explanations can be found on my other blog categories on here- Invisible Me and Little Mom, Big City.

"The weather is the one thing people go to when they don't want to talk about anything." she said with a bit of a laugh as well.

It was a full circle. But then there was just one more thing...

She left me with a sentiment of positive even beyond that. She stated that even with parents or family that doesn't get it, one can gain hope with the following statement to state to oneself:

"I am not my past even if I am my past. Today is my life. I'm going to do what I want to."

What a beautiful day to talk about the weather and everything and nothing in between.

If you'd like to read more about the city driving chronicles (and more) of this Little Girl in the Big City, you can continue to tune in here. Or, if you'd like to high five and otherwise welcome the wondrous Kyla Grogan to the West Coast, you can give her a digital wave on her Twitter handle.

I hope that the hurricane of your day (even at hours that aren't 8) is one that is filled with love and complete kindness.. regardless of the patterns around or the volatile forces in the background or within.