The past few months have lasted years, and, simultaneously, they've flown by in a matter of minutes. Three storms. Thousands of homes lost. Countless businesses closed. My therapist — who lost his home in the second storm, Helene — has said we're all dealing with collective trauma from disparate acute traumas (the storms) and the chronic trauma of the aftermath. The zeitgeist is not ideal right now. The morning following Helene, I walked through Gulfport and cried. I was not the only one crying; I would later learn that many Gulfportians were randomly crying. How could it be so bad, I wondered, when we never lost power? Milton was the opposite: Little water, but the wind arrived, toppling a crane in downtown St. Pete, ripping the roof off Tropicana Field, contaminating the water supply, and taking out the power grid in our area as well. In retrospect, it was not a good time to read READ MORE...
