asteroid B612

crazy how you had just moved away, too. I remember talking to you about it in the nursery at COPC!

*hug* My grandmother said that not long before he passed away, my grandfather gave her the "grand tour" of how he had remodeled the downstairs. (Considering the walls were torn out to waist level and he had card tables and electric appliances instead of a "real kitchen" for two years, it was a lot of work.) It was as if he were getting my grandmother's approval for creating a safe and pretty home for her, and then he felt released to die.

And so. . . I'm seeing this storm tracking for N.O. And I'm scared and MAD. . . And while my uncle is now caring for my grandmother, she is in poor health and evacuating? Very, very difficult.

I haven't even called her. I don't want to upset her. (How's that for twisted, emotional logic?)

For those of you who don't remember, or weren't around, then. We had been in NOLA several years, working at life and at building a church. But things didn't work out with the mission work. And it became clear that we needed to move on.

After months of uncertainty, when we didn't know where I would have a job or whether we would have a place to live, we packed our stuff into storage, crammed our '90 Civic hatchback with everything essential, and I drove my very pregnant wife to PA.

At the last moment, just before we left, I accepted a job at a school here in Philly. A week or so after we arrived, E was born-- way early. Then we found out that E was deaf. Then we sat in front of TV for days, watching our city destroy itself, even as it was being destroyed.

Not a day goes by that I don't wish for the life we had there. It was our coming-of-age, both as individuals and as a couple. But it's gone now. Nothing of what we loved is left there.

Hey Chris...we are still here. LOL At least until morning. We are leaving for Port Gibson MS. David will be staying behind with Goliath. Hopefully they can prevent some of the looting that occurred on our street during the aftermath of Katrina. Will keep in touch

"Not a day goes by that I don't wish for the life we had there. It was our coming-of-age, both as individuals and as a couple."

For us, with our moves, it is similar with places being identified strongly with periods in our lives.

. . .

I'm cautiously hopeful with the reports I'm hearing so far about NO and Gustav. . .