I am irresistibly drawn to figures of Ganesh, the many-armed elephant Hindu deity who is venerated by millions as the “Remover of Obstacles” and the “Lord of Beginnings.”

Hurricane Andrew was in a twisted sort of way the Ganesh of Hurricanes—a Category 5 force of nature that swept away the veils that can sometimes confuse us so that we believe we are what we own.

Dad and I had gone to Lollapalooza the day prior to the storm, blissfully unaware of the impending catastrophe. We saw Pearl Jam, Sound Garden, and the headliners were the Red Hot Chili Peppers—one song in particular got stuck in my head—“Give it Away” by the Chili Peppers.

After we emerged from under the mattress we’d dragged into the kitchen at the height of the storm, and the cabinets you had spent the two-hour assault inside of…after I realized we were not going to die, that the world had been remade in shades of broken terracotta tiles, smashed glass, torn vegetation, and blue, blue sky…I walked around the house trying to figure out what I needed to pack up and take with us, and all I could think was:

What I’ve got you’ve got to give it to your mamma, What I’ve got you’ve got to give it to your papa, Give it away give it away give it away now…

I packed up our photo albums, home videos, and some clothes for all of us—everything else stayed behind. My “things” weren’t important for the span of a few days until I returned and began the four month process of rebuilding.

I’d like to say that the life-affirming and liberating feeling stayed with me, but I’d be lying.

Still, last Friday was the 20^th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew, and we were once again preparing for a possible strike by soon-to-be-hurricane-but-still-tropical-storm Isaac, and looking at my coterie of Ganeshes, I knew I could “Give it away give it away give it away now” or later if I ever had to.