It is an odd thing now to be home.  I wake and cannot place myself- feeling like there is something to be done, a different place I am supposed to be.  I feel disoriented when I awaken.  It is as though the world did not notice I was gone- it went on.  But in the areas of disaster, it is also going on- in a totally different way.  People still need help and even in two weeks, the threat of Irma is now just a brief blip of newscasting for so many.

And I unpack, wash clothes, catch up on mail and ponder the lessons learned, the stories held, making meaning of what I have seen, touched, and lived.  I look around me and think, it could be us at any moment- an earthquake like that in Mexico and we will need help too.

It is a new awareness in many ways.  I have responded to disasters before, I have lived through them myself.  But this was different.  I came home to my clean, soft bed and realized that for the rest of the world, this is old news, but for me, it is ongoing.  And for the folks cleaning up from Harvey, Irma, Jose, and Mexican earthquakes, it is their very lives right now and will be for some time to come.  Don’t stop helping.  Don’t stop supporting.  Don’t stop praying.  The news moves on, but the destruction is not so fast to go away.  Don’t let the news distract you from what is happening in these areas- they still need our support.  Even after we are home, clean, unpacked and back to the daily grind.