!!!!!

I honestly can't believe it. Is God trying to tell us something? Is global warming really THAT out of control? What the hell is happening? I could go on and on about the bigger issues at hand--the thousands of evacuees that found refuge in Houston, who probably feel like the hurricanes are chasing them...the craziness on I-45...the repeat flooding in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans that seems bent on wiping the neighborhood off the map. But what I'm really worried about right now is my own family. They haven't even had a chance to start grieving the loss of Ed, and suddenly they're having to board up windows, buy supplies (ha! Between the price gouging and the mass chaos, they were lucky to gather up the bare necessities this week!), plan for a power outage (my mother is an insulin-dependant diabetic, so she's trying to stock up on ice) and get ready to sit through Rita. At least they're far enough inland that they didn't get evacuated, but having survived the Houston flood of 2001, I'm incredibly nervous. Once again, I feel totally helpless from a thousand miles away. Why is all of this happening? Will life ever be normal again? I'm starting to have my doubts.

At least it makes the petty little problems of my life seem a bit less important. The ramblings about my angst over changing friendships and stupid boy problems seem kind of silly right now. I've never spent so much time counting my blessings and feeling gratitude for the amount of support the people of my life have provided to me in the last few hellish weeks. In the grand scheme of things, my life is good. Really good. It's time to seriously dial back the sarcasm and pessimism. At least for a few weeks, anyway.

In the midst of all of the crap going on, unbelievably, my love life seems to be progressing. I think. I'm not sure. I'm leaning on the wisdom I gleaned from He's Just Not That Into You, and trying not to get too excited. But he really, really seems interested. A pseudo-date is in the works for this weekend. Am I finally headed for a real relationship? Better not get my hopes up...well, maybe a little is ok.

It's Friday, the first Friday in three weeks that I'm not either at home or taking narcotic pain relievers. I'm hoping there's a little relaxation involved, but I think I'm probably going to spend most of it glued to the weather channel and waiting to hear from my mom. Let's hope that Monday doesn't bring reports of the same kind of misery we saw four weeks ago.
-pg