Just Not The Same.....

I turned on the TV this morning in hopes of catching some of the death/destruction/devastation wrought by Hurricane Rita. Imagine my disappointment when there was no death/destruction/devastation. Downed trees and power lines just can't compare to the human suffering plastered all over the cable news channels after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. It was more interesting to watch the 100-mile traffic jam prior to Hurricane Rita.

Yesterday morning when I was watching the coverage while getting ready for work it occurred to me that my aunt and uncle live in a town called Trinity in Texas. I haven't seen them since I visited them in Sydney, Australia in the early 70's and we really only exchange cards at Christmas. So I pulled out the atlas to see exactly where they live. Holy Cow! They live about 150-200 miles north of Houston. Hmmmmm.....wonder how they're doing.

Then yesterday when I picked up my mail at the post office I had an envelope from my cousin (daughter of above aunt & uncle). She and her husband and kids live in Humble, Texas. So today I checked out their address at Map Quest and turns out they live immediately north of Houston. I also haven't seen her, or her brother, since I visited them in Australia.

So now I'm wondering how they all have fared in the hurricane.

I've actually been through a hurricane myself. No, it wasn't Iwa or Iniki. It was back in 1959 and it was on this Island, Kauai. It was Hurricane Dot. My mom, sister, grandma, grandpa and I were spending two weeks in a cabin at Koke'e while by dad went to boot camp in El Paso, Texas. I was so little that all I remember was the wind howling and there being lots of rain. The next day we couldn't get down from Koke'e because of downed trees blocking the road. When we finally were able to get down the beach at Kekaha was completely littered with driftwood. And that's all I remember.

Earlier this week there was a hurricane not too far from the Hawaiian island chain - Hurricane Jova. It mostly petered out and headed north so we were spared. As one newscaster said - Hurricane Jova is ova. But I did hear two people on this island say that if a hurricane doesn't have a hawaiian name then it won't hit Hawaii.

Hey, people, wake up. Does Dot sound like a hawaiian name?