Lost
The weather couldn't have been more cooperative this weekend. Nathalie and I took advantage of this to bring out our grill and barbecue for the first time since the storm.
Our backyard is still a mess, but a well tamed mess. Most of the debris in the backyard caused by the storm had been picked up and removed. But it seems that no matter how much we clean up, there's always just another pile of crap to clean up. There a piece of roofing material over here, various random pieces of construction material over there... It's just never-ending.
So I got to the point where I just got tired of it all so I let the leaves and small branches just accumulate around the base of the trees and in the corners of the yard. Considering that I don't own the house I live in, my motivation to fix it up is not that high. It's not like the landlady is going to drop the rent or anything if I make the place any nicer.
So anyway, Nathalie and I decided to cook outside and enjoy the weather. We sat around the picnic table, our minds wandering here and there waiting for the steaks to grill, when Nathalie noted something amongst the pile of leaves by a tree.
"Hey, look at this..."
It was a small, infant-sized pink shoe of the Mary Jane variety. Considering there isn't anybody on this block that has an infant, it must have blown into our yard during the hurricane from some other neighborhood.
For a while, we just sat there and looked at the shoe Nathalie was holding up between her two fingers. Eventually, she got tired of holding it up and tossed it back in the pile of leaves, where it landed with a soft crunch of breaking leaves. I spent a minute remembering the terror and worry and uncertainty that the storm brought to our and everybody else's lives 6 months ago, and I wondered where the owner of that shoe ended up.
I sighed and shrugged, letting those thoughts drift away, and focusing my attention on the steaks. Life moves on, and hopefully the little girl's life has moved on as well.
Our backyard is still a mess, but a well tamed mess. Most of the debris in the backyard caused by the storm had been picked up and removed. But it seems that no matter how much we clean up, there's always just another pile of crap to clean up. There a piece of roofing material over here, various random pieces of construction material over there... It's just never-ending.
So I got to the point where I just got tired of it all so I let the leaves and small branches just accumulate around the base of the trees and in the corners of the yard. Considering that I don't own the house I live in, my motivation to fix it up is not that high. It's not like the landlady is going to drop the rent or anything if I make the place any nicer.
So anyway, Nathalie and I decided to cook outside and enjoy the weather. We sat around the picnic table, our minds wandering here and there waiting for the steaks to grill, when Nathalie noted something amongst the pile of leaves by a tree.
"Hey, look at this..."
It was a small, infant-sized pink shoe of the Mary Jane variety. Considering there isn't anybody on this block that has an infant, it must have blown into our yard during the hurricane from some other neighborhood.
For a while, we just sat there and looked at the shoe Nathalie was holding up between her two fingers. Eventually, she got tired of holding it up and tossed it back in the pile of leaves, where it landed with a soft crunch of breaking leaves. I spent a minute remembering the terror and worry and uncertainty that the storm brought to our and everybody else's lives 6 months ago, and I wondered where the owner of that shoe ended up.
I sighed and shrugged, letting those thoughts drift away, and focusing my attention on the steaks. Life moves on, and hopefully the little girl's life has moved on as well.
posted by THW at 9:07 AM
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