Sunday, September 7, 2025: A Storm is Always on the Horizon

Laura Lentz

Everyone who was on the island of Kauai 32 years ago can tell you about the day before hurricane Iniki. The sky was a different kind of royal blue, every shade of green was competing with every other shade.

Look at me, the island seemed to say, glistening. The beaches were crowded, the air unreasonably humid - nobody sure what was to come. The storm was tracking south, it looked like Kauai would escape Iniki, which in Hawaiian means sharp and piercing wind. Everyone on Hawaii has had their eyes in Hurricane Kiko, which now seems like it’s going to miss us altogether.

It’s human nature try to track and predict storms – hurricanes, tornados, fires, earthquakes, viruses, and yet even with all the tracking, storms can take a sharp turn when we thought it was leaving - they have a mind of their own, barely teasing the horizon line or staying over land for hours, like Iniki did.

Covid was a storm. Cancer or any illness in your body is a storm. Breakups or a Passionate connection with another can feel like a tornado over the soul.

We want to protect ourselves, our families, board up our windows and our heart, mask-up, take political sides, and keep ourselves away from death for as long as we can. During all storms, our uncomfortable relationship with our mortality comes knocking on our door.

About six years ago, a hurricane was so close to Kauai it was a sure hit, and I remember putting all my poetry books in giant green trash bags, and the lawn furniture behind a concrete wall and listening to neighbors hammering all day, boarding up windows.

My 3-year old granddaughter didn’t know what was happening so I sat down to explain storms to her. We looked at a satellite image, and I said - here we are, pointing to Kauai. Here’s the storm, I said pointing to the red hurricane circle over the water.

I suggested we close our eyes and imagine a protective shield around our small island so the hurricane pushed back out to sea. We closed our eyes and I opened mine first to witness her eyes still tightly closed in full concentration, and when she finally opened them she said - grandma, I did it! I called on all the unicorns and they are all surrounding the island - the hurricane isn’t coming now!

Although I've never seen a unicorn, I am certain a whole herd showed up that day, because the hurricane missed us by five miles.

I’m writing this because I know we have all been through a lot in the last twelve months - hurricanes, fires, storms, illnesses. We’ve lost homes and income and dreams. We’ve lost parents and friends and partners, remembering there is no such thing as a life without storms, which means there is no such thing as a life without change.

But if we look at all storms metaphorically, we will know there is always a storm just on the horizon of some kind. Tracking the storm, and focusing on the upheaval it might bring does not serve anybody. Storms are disruptive forces - and yet they are necessary for change, shaking us to our core and redirecting us to some place new, or a new way of being.

Today I went to the hardware story to make sure I had batteries and canned food and toilet paper. I was reminded this need to know what is happening second by second through texts, news alerts, emails, and social media is its own kind of storm - a funnel of fear.

My dear friends, we are all living now under an ever-changing sky in this fractured world, and sometimes that dark cloud feels like it is directly over your home and your soul. Perhaps if we keep walking, keep writing, and keep loving and forgiving, many of the storms pressing down on us might change direction. In the Hero’s Journey, storms are there help us break away from our old life, and sometimes kick us into a new life, and this is an essential part of every story. Bryant McGill wrote when the storm comes, pray that it will shake you to your roots and break you wide open.

I’d like to remind you that Hawaiian islands aren’t islands, they are mountains connected under the ocean. In this way, we are all deeply connected to each other - we are never alone. It's important to remember our thoughts and our fears are deeply connected too. We can control the way we treat the people we love, and we can reach out to those who have lost everything if we still have something to give.

In this way and only in this way, all those storms and all those viruses on the horizon just might change direction, with way less energy feeding them.And if everything feels untenable, maybe all you need to do is close your eyes and call in the unicorns.