Surviving Today
We had our annual Labor Day Party. We had 2 very special guests - children who survived the nightmare of New Orleans.
Their mom did not come - she felt it would have been very inappropriate - her mother is in and out of the hospital with extreme high blood pressure and her husband is in Atlanta still trying to find his daughter.
But she wanted the kids to have a fun day - swimming, bbq, laughing - the normal stuff a 4 and 6 year old should be enjoying.
Our friends, thru their church, took in this family.
Sherry and her husband had a small courier business in New Orleans. They have been wiped out.
Sherry says that Friday night when they went to bed the news was no biggy on the storm. In the morning the news was mandatory evacuation. She went with the children to her mother's house to board up the house and help her mother pack the car. Her husband went to his father's house to board it up. The roads were to be closed at 6pm so they planned to meet and caravan out.
The road closed at 2 and Sherry and her mother made it. Sherry's husband did not. He had to return to their home and ride out the storm. He was on the roof for 3 days before he was rescued. He waded thru the water to the outskirts of New Orleans and hitched a ride to Atlanta. His mental condition is fragile after all the horrors he witnessed. The worst part is not knowing where or how his daughter is. She lives with her mother and they have not been reported anywhere.
The children were beautiful and well behaved. BUT - I never saw them smile. The young man is a great baseball player. The young lady is a good swimmer. They played with the other children but spoke almost not at all. Of course some of that might have been just being shy - after all they did not know any of us except the family they are staying with.
This family will make it. Sherry has already found a job. She is lucky she has her car and a few belongings. Her mother will be fine. Her mother is also staying in a private home. Her husband too will survive and they will eventually be back together. I know the children miss him.
Someday these 2 children and thousands more like them will tell their children about this time in their lives.
Somehow, with this as an example, just losing a little weight or saving a little money does not seem so very big an obstacle.
Perhaps it is human nature for us to deny death unless it stops and spits in our face - hurricane or diabetes from obesity or emphysema from smoking or overwhelming debt from indiscriminate credit card use and the resulting depression and possible suicide.
It is time for all of us to consider who and what we are today and what our tomorrows look like.
I know that all of you have contributed what you could to the relief efforts for all the victims of the hurricane. There are so many more people involved besides just New Orleans. Maybe the TV doesn't hi-light any of those small towns but they were just as devastated and just as needy.
Their mom did not come - she felt it would have been very inappropriate - her mother is in and out of the hospital with extreme high blood pressure and her husband is in Atlanta still trying to find his daughter.
But she wanted the kids to have a fun day - swimming, bbq, laughing - the normal stuff a 4 and 6 year old should be enjoying.
Our friends, thru their church, took in this family.
Sherry and her husband had a small courier business in New Orleans. They have been wiped out.
Sherry says that Friday night when they went to bed the news was no biggy on the storm. In the morning the news was mandatory evacuation. She went with the children to her mother's house to board up the house and help her mother pack the car. Her husband went to his father's house to board it up. The roads were to be closed at 6pm so they planned to meet and caravan out.
The road closed at 2 and Sherry and her mother made it. Sherry's husband did not. He had to return to their home and ride out the storm. He was on the roof for 3 days before he was rescued. He waded thru the water to the outskirts of New Orleans and hitched a ride to Atlanta. His mental condition is fragile after all the horrors he witnessed. The worst part is not knowing where or how his daughter is. She lives with her mother and they have not been reported anywhere.
The children were beautiful and well behaved. BUT - I never saw them smile. The young man is a great baseball player. The young lady is a good swimmer. They played with the other children but spoke almost not at all. Of course some of that might have been just being shy - after all they did not know any of us except the family they are staying with.
This family will make it. Sherry has already found a job. She is lucky she has her car and a few belongings. Her mother will be fine. Her mother is also staying in a private home. Her husband too will survive and they will eventually be back together. I know the children miss him.
Someday these 2 children and thousands more like them will tell their children about this time in their lives.
Somehow, with this as an example, just losing a little weight or saving a little money does not seem so very big an obstacle.
Perhaps it is human nature for us to deny death unless it stops and spits in our face - hurricane or diabetes from obesity or emphysema from smoking or overwhelming debt from indiscriminate credit card use and the resulting depression and possible suicide.
It is time for all of us to consider who and what we are today and what our tomorrows look like.
I know that all of you have contributed what you could to the relief efforts for all the victims of the hurricane. There are so many more people involved besides just New Orleans. Maybe the TV doesn't hi-light any of those small towns but they were just as devastated and just as needy.
posted by sharono at 6:57 PM
Subscribe
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home