There seems to be a pattern of natural disasters in areas I have recently visited, myself and/or with family. This sounds absurd, but I don’t find it so funny. Let’s review the facts:

Most recently, I visited — Vermont! The region in this area most devastated by the recent hurricane, which turned into a tropical storm, inconveniencing many. But Vermont got the worst of it, including Rutland, my dad’s hometown, and a little town called Rochester where my Aunt Betty and Uncle Ed live, which has been cut off  from the rest of the state. I hope to hear news of them soon. Another cousin informed us there is no power and no phone service, that helicopters were delivering medicine, folks with ATV’s were being asked to cross mountain roads to deliver water, cow herds were swept down river, folks were left homeless and caskets had risen out of the cemetery.  The name of this storm was Irene, also the name of our family matriarch, whose history I had compiled.

This is my most recent disaster.  Others date back at least until 1989, Hurricane Hugo in Charleston, SC.  Donald and I happened to be there at a WWII reunion of his father’s where we were attempting to sell souvenir items.  One week we’re lounging on Isle of Palms beach drinking beers under the moon; next week, it’s blown away.

And then the April 2005 trip to New Orleans, 5 mos. before Katrina.  How many people take their school age children to Bourbon St., I ask you?  But I wanted the cultural experience, and it was our point of departure for a cruise.  At the aquarium, the docent assured me that New Orleans was in a bowl, and the experts knew it was a matter of time before the levies failed. They were right.

Then there was Tahoe 2008 wildfires.  Another April trip, visiting brother in law Tom. We were poolside when we saw the smoke. I approached a firefighter on the roadside: “We’ll evacuate if it gets bad,” he said. Then the fireplanes and helicopters.  I told Don I wanted to leave for Reno airport a day early, just in case…the smoke cloud followed us for miles.

Another vacation, another disaster – this time 2009 Myrtle Beach, SC.  Myrtle Beach! We saw a smoke plume as we were driving – seemed so far away. And then, after dinner, leaving the restaurant, what seemed like little gnats, in fact were ashes falling from the sky.  But no panic, no warning, and we returned to our hotel next to the beach….safe, of course.  At night, I awoke to acrid air – the slider open only an inch.  I turn on the TV: the wildfire is out of control, and not a mile away.  Outside the window the smoke was so dense, I couldn’t see the shoreline below. “Close doors and windows, put wet towels at cracks.  Visibility nil, stay off the roads.” I didn’t wake the boys; what would we do?  The next morning was safe to travel, so we went south of town to get out of the bad air.

Another trip…more recently.  We were safe in Sandestin, FL, but our friends that we visited, who had come down from Birmingham, AL, returned to face the worst tornado in their history, just following.  I’d asked them over dinner, “Was it ever a problem with tornados coming through?  They assured me, not.

Santa Cruz, where I went to college, wrecked by an earthquake.

New York City, where I lived for three years, terrorist attacks, no less deadly than natural disasters.  

There’s my record. The question is, what to make of it?  Is there some meaning I am supposed to find?  Modern travel brings me to all kinds of destinations? Global warming is touching us all?  Just unlucky, or causing bad luck – a karma thing?  Or, a force field around me so powerful it disturbs the atmosphere?  Some other kind of superpower that I don’t realize I have?

My critical thinking self says, just coincidence.  My spiritual, superstitious self says it’s a message of some kind.

We choose, don’t we, whether to find meaning in things? If there’s a message, I think it has something to do with nature, and something to do with suffering.  And it may be something to this effect:  what you do matters, influences the rest of the world, and you must do something to help this world, not merely observe, staying safe and comfortable. Because, in time, disaster touches us all.