Learning to take heed of nature's warnings

Yesterday morning my husband asked me to come outside and listen to a strange sound. We walked to the back porch and he said, “Listen, can you hear that sound?”

I listened and before I could answer he said, “It sounds like a giant air conditioner.”

“It’s the sound of the ocean booming,” I answered.

“No way,” he said.

“That is definitely the sound of the ocean,” I responded.

And as I listened, I could hear the ocean getting stronger. Hungrier. More aggressive because it is being fuelled by the storm that is heading our way.

Many years before our landlady told us about the sound of the booming ocean. The constant sound of an indescribable noise, almost like a white noise, she told us, is the South Shore building. The direction where the majority of our hurricanes come from is the place that first lets us know that something is crossing her by her changing sound.  Instead of the soothing background noise of the ocean, it becomes more threatening. More prominent. Like a whirring sound. Now that we live near to the South Shore again some 15 years after our landlady had told us about the sound, my husband had forgotten it but I had not.

Still not believing me, my husband decided to drive down to Elbow Beach to see for himself. He came back a little while later and said the water didn’t look that bad but the sound was definitely coming from the ocean. Building, getting stronger. Growing as the storm gets nearer.

Last night Tropical Storm Leslie became a Category 1 hurricane with all the perfect conditions to allow her to grow even stronger before she hits us because she is moving so slowly. And she is forecasted to be a direct hit. A slow moving one at that. So we are in for a long and stormy weekend. We haven’t had a large hurricane like this since Fabian nine years ago when my daughter was only a baby and my son a tot. And we lived in a different home so experiencing a hurricane of this magnitude in this house will be a new experience for us. And honestly, I am a bit nervous but I’m trying to remain calm.

And even if I tried to fool myself into thinking we will not get much of a storm, I know it is going to be bad because yesterday I woke up with a pressure headache. And I still have it today. I only get them when the pressure is dropping outside. Showing how in tune our bodies really are with nature. And nature has been showing us her best – avocado trees fuller than I have ever seen since we moved into this house 5 years ago. Pear trees full of pears. Everything blooming as nature prepares to shed under the weight of the wind. Silk spiders building their nests close to the ground last weekend warning us of a hurricane coming. The ocean booming preparing us for what was crossing her.

Letting me know even before all the modern technology to tell us about pending hurricanes, nature always had a way of forewarning us. Reminding me how important it is to take heed of nature's warnings and signs  because nature is always responding to its changing environment. Altering itself to best survive and thrive. As can we if we take the time to observe and respond accordingly.