In the Storm's Aftermath

our laughter on the beach. . . the darkening sky One day our boat was demolished in a storm that came up suddenly on what had begun as a sunny July day. My husband had recently recovered from a nervous breakdown. Our boat had been his main means of escape on summer weekends, so this event, which would merely have saddened the ordinary guy, totally devastated him. I could liken this calamitous day to the worst part of living with a person who suffers from “managed” depression/anxiety. Days can be sunny, but when the storms strike, even the best pharmaceuticals can curtail neither the sometimes disastrous effects on the mind of one who suffers depression nor the entire family’s feelings of isolation and debilitating despair. That day at the lake would top my list of the many times in my life that I would choose never to have to relive. the children’s cries mingled with my helpless pleas. . . his vacant stare For the What I Wouldn't Want to Relive contest of Black Eyed Susan (the actual story of this day at the beach was told with more details in a past haibun of mine posted Oct. 1, 2013 and named Fickle Nature)