“The storm raged violently outside my window. Trees were swaying at 100 miles per hour, and car windows were being smashed in by sheer force of nature. The rain fell vehemently and angrily as I had never seen before. It was a nightmare. Schools and offices were closed. Bridges, tunnels, public transportation all came to a halt, and thousands were fleeing, reluctantly but hurriedly, finally heeding the mayor’s and governor’s edict to evacuate.

“Yes this was the storm of the century that they had talked about for a week in advance, and I knew that the worse was yet to come after she had done her dirty work and left town. There would be a big cleanup indeed…but eventually the city, the state, the region would get back to normal and it would be business as usual once more. But there would be no healing of the wounds I felt inside.

“My own turmoil could not be so easily healed. She had not only walked out on me when I needed her most. She had, like the hurricane that blew through, left devastation and debris. Unlike the city, though, there would be no cleanup effort. There would be no better tomorrows to look forward to. A heart that is broken does not repair in a day or week or even a year.

“Perhaps it would have been better for me if the monster storm had taken me away too. How could I go on living without the one who had left a tempest in my being after ditching me for another and just walking away as though she and I had never existed as a couple?”