Fleur de Aleta

Mother Nature has us on pins and needles. We decided to evacuate last night. I'm someone who rarely drives the Interstate. I live within 10 minutes from work, with stores within close proximity of home, so the Interstate just isn't a daily part of my life. (I'll make the exception for a Cat 4 hurricane, which is what Gustav was when we left.) So, there I was, nervous about driving (Greg was in no way in any condition to drive), it was late so I was tired, traffic was bumper to bumper and people on edge were riding on the same road. I remember why I don't drive much at night (because of nightblindness and my eyes were getting dry so I'd have to blink them rapidly because it would get blurry for a second) and then it started to rain. But I got us safely to Hammond, counting that as a blessing (especially when Greg said, "The last time I drove in rain, it didn't have a good ending" which only more put my nerves on end and made me want to cry. That wasn...

Ease your mind ~ the material is thick and absorbent and designed to work with your body. It’s contoured for comfort with side-to-side protection and safe to fall asleep. That’s right folks, Greg has found a new use for my Always Pads with Wings. He didn’t feel that the regular gauze was holding the stuff oozing (sorry to be gross) from his arm wound, so he took out my feminine protection and cut it into squares (minus the wings, he claims they are useless, but I disagree!). Maybe we could write to Always and have a new commercial for them or send a note to the hospitals. "Not only can it be used for cycles, but is better than gauze for keeping a wound dry!" When Mom and Roda heard what Greg did, they busted out laughing and Roda asked, “Was it the scented kind?” Hehe I was shocked when Rob didn’t blink an eye and could see where Greg was coming from, while we women laughed about it. Hey, if it works! Now, I just need to remember to pack the Always pads for Greg (not me) if ...

never liked bowling the shoes were uncomfortable fingers would slip, the ball too heavy, the gutters too large should be a simple thing a lane, a ball, a goal, but it's a game of suitable speed and distance and spin, that perfect combination and strategy of unlimited array of variations, line of delivery of swinging and swerving, everyone has an opinion of how to track the technique, what factors come into play for where it will land within the cone of pins, more to the left, a jump to the right, a spin that wasn't plotted and a stride of deceleration towards the map of possibilities, holding a pose and breath to see what falls, the bowling balls keep coming up, waiting to strike if the mark didn't get it the first time setting up the pattern sheet, like tracking this season of hurricanes, Mother Nature plays a similar game only she does it with wind and rain, those round clouds, barreling down the Atlantic alley into the gulf of pins never did like bowling I can't stan...

When the nurse at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital showed Mary Ann and I how to change the open wound in Greg's arm, we looked at each other and said, "Can you do it?" I think we both could, but... oh my gosh. The doctor said they couldn't stitch it (the wound) up, because it could become infected. It has to be redressed each day and that will be on going for a minimum of a month. On the drive to bring Greg home, Mary Ann exclaimed, "Roda is a nurse! I kept thinking, who did we know in the family that is a nurse!" Our prayers were answered, because Nurse Roda was willing to attend to her first patient in the States. My future sister-in-law is caring for my future husband, her future brother-in-law, what a special patient/nurse for her first in the States. (Mind you, Roda was an equivalent to an RN in Dubai, so she's had many patients in the past.) I'm grateful to Roda and so is Greg. He knows that I would do it, only it would take me hours to do what Ro...

I have started this post and erased it too many times to count. I sent emails to family and friends, because I knew that people were concerned. I tried to keep to the medical aspect of it, but emotionally I was either spinning or frozen. Tuesday afternoon I came home for lunch, like any normal day. I called Greg and we talked on the phone. A few minutes later I got another call, from a guy named Alvin. Alvin said that Greg asked him to call me, to let me know Greg had just been in a car accident. Alvin said that Greg was trapped where he was and Greg couldn't reach his cell phone. Alvin offered to call me on his cell and Greg gave him my phone number. I heard Greg’s voice in the background, his weak breathing, the pain in his voice. My heart stopped. I don’t know how I managed, but I wrote down Alvin’s name and number. I called my Dad. He asked me where the accident was, but I wasn’t coherent. The next phone call I made was to Greg’s Mom. How do you tell a Mom that her son was in ...