#introductory.

𝑨𝑩𝑺𝑻𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑻: 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑨𝑽𝑨𝑹𝑰𝑪𝑰𝑶𝑼𝑺 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒.

Reuven was born and raised in a tiny  town situated near Mount Olympia in Washington state, far enough from civilization that he found closer community with nature and animals than he did with other children. Until he turned eighteen ... he found himself underweight, exhausted, and hungry, scratching his signature into military documents, to join the Navy and sleep in a bed again. Enlisting had brought him forced discipline and belittling at the price of three hots and a cot, but soon enough Reuven grew to not hate his job as much as he did in the beginning. In fact, he found that he had a natural talent in it and quickly rose through the ranks, until ultimately transferring into the Navy SEALs. Despite rising in the ranks and finally obtaining the respect and likeness he’d searched for his entire life, there was always this underlying disappointment in what his life had become.

He abandoned camouflage and highly confidential missions to explore the history of the ocean he’d become close friends with over the past decade. Before he knew it he was a husband, a father, a home owner in beautiful Queens, NY, and an explorer. Tapped into that youthful need to experience nature, he found deep solace and belonging underwater.

When the sea tried to steal her [ his wife ] away, it was swift and insurmountable. The ocean had never been lenient; never exonerative. It took him with her, and if not for the keen eye of a fish mongerer, his children would have been orphans ... When he received word from his former Navy SEAL superior of the news that the cordyceps virus would consume the world, Reuven knew it would be just as unforgiving as the ocean. The forces of nature were not to be reckoned with, and he stole into the night with his three children and their babysitter, to seclude them away from their impending doom in the depths of the forests that he’d grown so familiar as a boy.

That wretched clicking. One of the dead had made it to his baby girl—Chedva, six years old and bright eyed and bushy-haired. He’d only known by the sound of her wail for him, screeching and pure terror—then agony. Days became weeks. The stock market crashed. The demons were in the streets. They ran, and ran, and ran. Weeks became months, and then months became years.

It wasn’t long before the apocalypse had claimed his son, and then his only living daughter. And then it was just the two of them—him and his babysitter, left to protect one another while they both grieved this incredible pain and loss.

The year was 2017 and two streaks of grey had established into his unkempt beard.

It was intended to be a quick stop-in when he spotted the signs directing towards the University of Eastern Colorado. He thought perhaps it would bring solace to be around grounds again; to touch the binds of books and remember that centuries of humans before him had documented their tragedies. Perhaps provide him perspective when he so desperately needed it.

Reuven received so much more than perspective that day. The plight into the University served as a stairway into sanctuary. That day, and every day forth, he had a home again.

𝑪𝑶𝑵𝑵𝑬𝑪𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵𝑺.

the babysitter, old military buddies, former excavation partner(s), the pupil, the partner in planting, the study buddy, the swimmer

𝑰𝑵𝑽𝑬𝑵𝑻𝑶𝑹𝒀.