Fear Not

If you no longer believe what fear tells you, you will live and it will not. - Cheri Huber


The view from my bunk window this morning was like a kaleidoscope, the colors shifting as a strong gusting wind blew the clouds around: now dark, now light, the trees green to yellow to gray, almost black against a bright white sky that also changed to gray with occasional patches of blue. I was mesmerized. The wind was blowing when I went to bed last night around 10:30 and the temperature hovered around 70 degrees. This morning I heard there had been stormy weather all around us, including a very destructive tornado somewhere in Arkansas, just across the Mississippi.

Living in Asheville, NC, has made me rather complacent about bad weather. I can recall only one tornado watch/warning in the 11 years I lived there. We endured some flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan (I think) in 2005: lost power and everything in my fridge; but that's about it for really bad weather. Sure enough, as soon as I ventured east out of the NC mountains toward the coast during this past hurricane season, I had to run back inland when Hanna threatened the coast. Now I'm on the outskirts of "Tornado Alley" and I'm starting to think about what I would do if there were a watch alert.

It's good to have a plan, I suppose, but I refuse to worry about something I can't control, just as I don't worry about living alone in a camper. A friend whom I will be visiting in Rochester, MN, as I make my way to Minneapolis next week called today to confirm my arrival date and, as many friends have before her, she told me how brave I am to travel alone. Then I opened the Peace Quote for today, found the opening quote above and decided that the muse wants me to talk about fear today. But Cheri Huber says it all and so I'll just shut up now.