My Superpower Would Be…
You know that question, if you could have a superpower, what would it be? After contemplating many possibilities (flying, being invisible) I’ve decided that I definitely want my superpower to be the ability to control the weather. We have another hurricane heading to Florida. It’s forecast to hit the Tampa area, which is terrible (if you haven’t already read it, here’s Stephany’s post– her car was totaled in the flooding from Helene, and now she has to evacuate.) After it hits the west coast, Milton will continue across the state- hopefully staying just to the north of us. But we have a tropical storm warning, so school has been canceled for Wednesday and Thursday, and all after school activities are canceled for this week. For my daughter this includes a rehearsal, a concert, an audition for an all-county band, a football game and a band picnic. WHAT are the odds that this storm would hit us in this week of all weeks, where so many things were scheduled??? I’m really cranky about this, because we were supposed to bring soda to the picnic, and now I have about 50 cans of Coke in my fridge. Grr. (Yes, I know- people died from Helene, and I’m complaining about having too much Coke. Yes, I feel like a bad person.) I hate not knowing what’s going to happen. Did they cancel school for nothing? Should we be putting up our hurricane shutters? At least, it seems smart to prepare for a power outage. Let’s see- do we have our battery powered fans? Check. Lamps? Check. Beer? Check. (WAIT. How did that get on the list?) Food? Che-eck… a trip to the store is probably in order. Water? Nope. I’ll start filling bottles with our purified tap water (or, if we have a boil water order, we can just start drinking Coke, heh heh.) I don’t mean to make light of the situation. There’s no great outcome here. If I say I hope the storm doesn’t hit Tampa, then I’m wishing it on someone else. But since I can’t control the weather (darn!) I have an alternative superpower. From this article, “40 Simple Rules for Life”, #37: Separate almost everything into two: things you can control and those you can’t. Don’t waste time and energy on what you can’t influence. Yes, that’s a superpower right there. I’ll prepare, hope for the best, and deal with whatever happens. Sending love to all our fellow Floridians on the west coast! Hope everyone is safe. Top photo by Mélody P on Unsplash