A recent email from Betty

I finally took a vacation and that included a vacation from the computer. I'm grateful that it appears everyone was pretty much not harmed by Rita. Originally I had planned a vacation during the time that Katrina hit but then our agency was asked to volunteer to take in foster children from New Orleans so I put it on hold. Then I planned it for the days right before and after Rita. Our plan was to spend several days in Galveston and several days in San Antonio and the hill country which we love. Well I took the time but of course we didn't go to those destinations. We spent a very rich time together in terms of relationship preparing and then unpreparing for the hurricane. I was determined that this hurricane would not have power over our low carb diet.

On Wednesday before Rita I took most everything out of the freezer and had the grills and oven working all day long. We put gallons of ozarka water in the freezer and they froze like ice blocks so that if we lost electricity which they were predicting we would lose for up to 2 weeks we could still keep to our low carb diet. Our refrigerator and freezer would act like the iceboxes of olden days. If we had to evacuate we were going to west Katy where our son and daughter-in-law live and we had all the coolers ready to be packed.

Mike and I spent precious time together putting away all our precious things from shelves, walls etc. all the time talking about the memories connected to all of these things and how grateful we are for all that we have and the beautiful memeories that so much of what we have evokes. And of course we spent time glued to the TV trying to make a decision as to whether to evacuate or not. Our son was very disappointed that we made the decision to stay home because they had done some special things to prepare for us. In the past we would have just gone so as not to disppoint him or hurt their feelings, but we did what we wanted to do and what was most comfortable to us during this time. Since it wasn't going to be a direct hit we wanted to be here to take care of any damage right away.

After the hurricane we spent the days cleaning up the yard, trimming trees etc. We never lost power and we were so grateful. Well now my vacation time was over but our office was closed during most of that time anyway. In the past I would have chalked it up and said "well that's the breaks" but I didn't. I told the Executive Director those days should not count as vacation days and I wanted another week off. And without any arguement he agreed. I think he respected me for taking care of myself.

Well Mike and I enjoyed our time working in the yard together so much that we decided to spend the time creating an exotic garden in our backyard instead of spending money going some place. It's perfect timing because all the nurseries have 70% off on most everything. Going to the nurseries and choosing what we love and designing and planting has just been wonderful. The project just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Mike and I sit every evening and take in the beauty.

Wednesday night, the last day of my vacation, a hummingbird just kept hovering right in front of us. Thursday morning a humming bird kept hovering right in front of me in our back yard at work. I had never seen a humming bird at work and we hadn't seen one in our yard for several years. I looked up the symbolism of a hummingbird and one of the main symbolisms is making a joyous experience out of any situation. I felt that it appeared to help me remember that we always have the power to do this.

I know this is kind of long but I just feel so grateful and wanted to share this feeling with you all. I know if I hadn't joined this group and learned about taking care of self I would not have experienced the last several weeks the way I did.

Thank you, Betty