Lightning

I had a dream I was back in Richmond. It was a warm day but a little light rain had begun and the wind was picking up in anticipation of a storm. I stepped out of my house to look -- maybe I knew something was going to happen -- and out of almost nowhere I huge crack of lightning struck a neighbhor's house. This was no ordinary lightning strike. I watched in shock and fear as blocks of downtown Richmond went up in flames and skyscrapers collapsed. Both my house and my workplace were destroyed.

I've been missing New Orleans lately, but if I were in Richmond I don't think I would miss New Orleans. My life feels like it has been destroyed by lightning, but I can't put all the blame for the destruction on an uncontrollable natural disaster. It would be better if I could blame it on an unpredictable disaster that made the news and roused people's sympathy and desire to help. Instead: I flunked the bar exam and had the bad luck to graduate during a huge recession. Now I am living in my sister's dining room, looking for a job, getting behind on my bills, freezing my ass off, dealing with my family of self-absorbed moping depressives. Pot, kettle?