NOTE: This entry was part of a blog I wrote called “Jesse 2.0” from 2010-2011. 

I came home today to a soaked basement floor courtesy my furnace. My life is really starting to sound like a country song: My wife left, my dog left, my air conditioning left (or maybe the house heard I was planning to sell it). I mean I know mechanical things break down but REALLY less than a week after my divorce? Other than a minor water heater problem, the house hasn’t given us any problems since we moved in in 2006.

In better news, today was the first day I can say that I am feeling better at all, the first day that I could see through the fog to the future. I still feel like I’m walking through life like a zombie, but I’ve been distracted enough that it’s not getting the better of me. I went out to lunch at Olive Garden with an old friend, which was great. Although the situation is painful to talk about, we both have a good sense of humor. He is also going through family stress — of a different type.

Not only was I distracted by a full day of work, but a full evening of storm chasing. We got unusually lucky here with storm after storm that I kept having to run after, so that kept me busy. I don’t mean to be cruel, but the freedom of not having to worry when to be home (and where the family might be getting rained on) was really nice. I took some inspiring cloud photos including the one above that kind of sums up the day, which I’ll call “Rays of Hope”.

I don’t expect tomorrow to go as well — no storms, probably little sleep in a hot & humid house tonight, and approaching A/C repair bills.