6 • Continued from previous page world to witness our pain. The UK military arrived soon after, not just with supplies but allegedly with body bags. They probably expected mass casualties and honestly, I couldn’t blame them. It’s a miracle so many of us made it out alive. But maybe that’s just a reflection of the deep spiritual covering over our islands. Our ancestors don’t play about us. The Months That Followed In the months that followed we managed the best we could as survival became our full-time jobs. Water was stored in coolers, gas station lines felt endless, and our cars became our only source of power. For a while, that was our new normal, until a few months later when my mom’s friend sent us a generator which greatly enhanced our experience. At that time school felt like a distant memory. The idea of studying, graduating, or even returning to class dropped to the bottom of my priorities. My mind was focused on survival, on processing what had happened, on holding it together. But my parents had other ideas as they began discussion about sending me to Puerto Rico to finish the school year. Then Hurricane Maria hit the following week, and that plan disappeared overnight. So I stayed. I waited. And I felt stuck. There was nowhere to go, and nothing to do but survive. And surviving is exactly what we did. The months that followed are tangled together in my mind, blurry and heavy. But the feelings never left. The stress, fear and constant uncertainty linger. They live in me. And even now, when the wind howls a little too loud, my heart still skips a beat. The Gift Hidden In The Storm But even with the trauma, I carry gratitude. That experience taught me to value life’s smallest moments. To appreciate calm. To understand that • Continues on next page
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