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September 02, 2005 - Friday, 11:13 a.m.

Can�t think about gas prices with out thinking about New Orleans and hurricane Katrina. I�ve been steering clear of the Weather Channel and CNN for the most part. The images are horrific and I know that I have a tendency to feel it all just a little too much. Some how it captures you the same way an accident on the freeway does. You don�t REALLY want to see it, but you can�t help looking. Truly the images on TV and even the stills on the Internet are unbelievable. It is almost beyond comprehension to know that is happening just about a thousand miles from here. It is so very close to home. The knowledge that I can�t really do much to help is sad and makes one feel powerless. It�s not like I have a lot of money or time. I don�t have any skills that could be used. All I can do it sit and watch and say prayers.

It is amazing how quickly an area can fall to complete lawlessness. We just don�t have that happen much here. We�ve had riots in some areas, but mostly it�s little pockets of problems here and there throughout the country. Looting? Raping? Snipers? Unbelievable. I can hardly imagine, and am saddened to think that something that usually brings the best out of people (disaster) also can bring out the worst in people. This disaster is on such a large scale; it is hard to get one�s arms around it. I can hardly fathom the reality of that situation. People dying because there is no way to get help to them, and then once dead no way to take care of that either, the body�s are left where they are. If I think about it too much I�ll be crying. Many that were left in the city were the people without transportation or money, so they probably were in need BEFORE this ever happened. I can�t imagine waking up in a day where I have no house anymore and no place to go to work. No money, no security!! Gah!! My heart breaks for those left with no direction to turn.

::sighs::

It�s September. I can almost feel autumn creeping up on me. Its still summer, but I can feel autumn coming, can almost smell the smells of that season. It seems we�ll have turned that corner by the end of the month.

My sister and family are back from Nebraska. Kevin�s mother died this past Sunday. The funeral was Wednesday. There has been quite a bit of loss this year for my sister. Camille and I stopped by to see Esther on our way home from Lois�s funeral. Esther would have turned 80 this October. She was an unbelievably sweet and kind woman. She had MS all of the time I knew her, some 25 years. She�d been living in Lincoln with her daughter for the last 11 years or so. Kevin made many trips to help build whatever was needed to allow Esther to live with Pam all these years. It is a passing of a generation. Kevin�s parents are both gone now, and he�s only a year older then me.

Makes all the sadness and worries we have in our life pale when we think about things like the loss of parents or the devastation of something like Katrina. There are many blessings in our life that we can count� and should.