The morning after.

First responders gather the injured and search for the dead, airlifts begin taking people out and bringing in food and water and diapers. They are red blood cells in the collective body. The lovers and mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers wail and pray, the public vigils and the midnight mourning alone. The dispossessed disperse and are absorbed across the islands, some will fly away, go to a place where they can be held in the transition to whatever is coming next. The injured start their healing journeys. Did the owls the doves the songbirds the butterflies fly away in in time? Did the turtles make it into the sea? Did the small creatures burrow or are they also gone?

As in the fires at Rotterdam or Christchurch or San Francisco or Middletown, each person will be changed in some way, by the shock of sudden loss, some will grow and some will freeze.

The ashes will cool and the dozers will clear debris and then scaffolding will come... lumber and wiring and faucets and windowpanes and ceiling fans will land and maybe only green power and the town of the future in harmony with landscape will be imagined. Gradually a kitchen table a Surfboard a bag of cat food a bassinet new gauzy curtains blowing in the wind you get the idea. Home will be remade.

It takes ten to twenty years to rebuild a town.

The big banyan will witness. The ocean will witness. The sky will witness. The earth will hold the memory in its own way.

In the meantime we feel it, heal it, donate supplies, give money, open our homes, elevate the first responders, hold space for the traumatized, cook a meal, share.

In it together. The morning after is day 1. Praying for the missing and the heartbroken. #lahainafire

PS today Friday at Makuu market the Big Island east side community will be collecting supply donations for Lahaina 3:30 to 8:30 pm.

PPS @sundari_on_hawaii is not in harms way - thank you for your messages