A LESSON IN LIFE!

My sweet DIL sent me the picture below. She & #1 now live in Austin, but they moved from Baton Rouge about 2 years ago. This is the street that they lived on in BatonRouge after Gustav. The name of the street is Seven Oaks-aptly named for all of the huge beautiful Oak trees that lined it. The entire street was covered with shade on the hottest of summer days. The picture below tells the tale of 100 MPH winds and what they can do. The trees had actually been cut out of the street by the time this picture was taken, but as the old saying goes "A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words."

Louisiana is slowly trying to recover. The power should all be back on in about a week or two. The homes with trees through them-that will take time-LOTS OF TIME. Blue Tarp roofs are the standard-not the exception. Recovery from a hurricane can take years as evidenced by New Orleans-3 years later.

I did think of a friend of mine that actually lived through a horrible hurricane during her childhood. She lived in a wood house that was constructed out of boards-back in the good old days of strong and sturdy construction. They had no advance warning of the severity of the storm. Their house was over the hill from the Gulf, but as the night progressed and the storm pushed in-so did the storm surge. Her entire family ended up in the attic. They eventually had to take an ax and cut their way out of there. At some point in the dark early morning hours, they abandoned the underwater roof and began floating on doors and debris floating by. The last she ever saw of her Father was when the tidal wave washed over them. She then floated for many hours being pulled back into the swamps and marsh-floating by snakes and alligators-all concerned for their own lives and ignoring the humans floating by them. Needless to say-it was a life altering event for her. I am thankful that we now have a better warning system and pray that those in harm's way will take heed-even 2 weeks later.

With all that said, I came across this picture that DIL sent my way. It shows the wonder of the simple things in life and what is most important-not possessions-but family and friends. The cute little girls are my precious great-nieces. The boys are the grands. During the family reunion-they had all played in the heat and decided a good dunking would cool everyone off. They all ended up soaked-but had a wonderful time. I look forward to next year's reunion and cherish the memories of this year's, after all the greatest blessings comes from the simpliest of times and the love of family and friends.