I've been gone since the summer.

We bought a new house this past summer, well it's not new but it's new to us. We had just gotten moved in good and hurricane Rita hit. It hit this part of Texas pretty hard. Our house and property faired very well, no major damage, but the surrounding country side was so torn up that we had no power or water for almost two months, and a lot of the roads were covered with big trees.

My oldest daughter lives in a town to the west of where the storm hit and they got power back the next day. So my husband and I, our son and twin daughters, our two dogs, two cats, the twins two pet rats, their two turtles, and the fish all went to live with my daughter, her husband and their two dogs and two cats.

My daughter and her husband are very kind people. They have a 4 bedroom house and it's just to two of them so far, so thank goodness they had plenty of room for us. The storm hit Sept. 24th (the twin's birthday) and we were able to come home the week before Thanksgiving.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and had a lot to be thankfull for.

Then the Christmas shopping started and I've been off the wagon since Sept. and I'm doing reinduction this week. I've had the most horrible headache for the past two days but it's much better today. I know it's my body detoxing.

It feels so good to be getting back to normal. My heart goes out to the poor people from New Orleans. They don't have a home to go back to and get their lives back to normal. I was born in New Orleans and had family there. My aunt and uncle had a home there and evacuated to their oldest daughter's house in St. Louis. They're both CPA's and have gotten jobs in St. Louis, bought a house and don't plan to return to New Orleans even if it is rebuilt.

I'm afraid New Orleans will never be the same again. It's very sad, we've lost a whole culture.

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"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. " -Thomas Jefferson

Hi, Betty. Pasadena, eh? My dh's sister used to live there, and their son is still there. We were able to have the sil & bil here for 8 days during Rita. They didn't have damage, but no electric for a week. They now live at Lake Livingston.

Good to see you back on track. This is a great place for encouragement, isn't it?

Are you going to start a journal? That's where I get most of the encouraging words.

Glad you survived Rita in one piece. Bless your daughter.

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Nita

Thank God for family!

Welcome back Betty

Glad to know you are safe and got through Rita with the help of your family. Detoxing can be awful sometimes, but you'll be better soon (I'm going thorugh that now as well).

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Noël


Worry doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrows, it empties today of its strengths.

Welcome back, Betty.

Hope you're feeling better, day by day.

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QueenMama-
We're no longer in Pasadena, that is where we moved from. (I'll change that) We moved to Hull, Texas. It's in Liberty County about 30 miles East of Beaumont. If we had been in Pasadena we would have been fine. Our old neighbors said that power was out in the neighborhood for about 12 hours.

We moved right into the path of the storm. Oh well, it turned out OK, and I love this house.

CushieButterfield and Maggie,
Thanks, I'm feeling much better today.

Betty

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"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. " -Thomas Jefferson

It's amazing how when life gets really hard the first thing we do is put our health on the back burner. I did the same thing in 1999 and am just now getting back on track. The irony is if I had just stayed focused on this WOL the problems would have been much easier to get through. oh well lesson learned.

Thank you for sharing your heart ache. It really is good to hear stories of survival.

I hope all of the victims of this summers hurricanes find the strenght to move on and find positive solutions.

Betty - Happy to have you back with us. New Orleans was such a unique place in America and I'll mourn its loss if they can't restore it.

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