A Fraidy Cat Pauses to Reflect....

One can hardly begin to absorb the pictures and video coming out of Joplin, MO.I shudder to hear that the chance of storms for that area are as high, if not higher, tomorrow night.  I've lived thru 3 hurricanes that made landfall at night. I don't even want to think about a night time tornado.

Since my home away from home, Chattanooga, TN, so recently suffered the same sort of trauma, my sense of sadness is perhaps more heightened.  The horror of what has happened in the last 30 hrs has all but erased the news of the flooding along the Mississippi River.  In any other circumstances, we would be transfixed by the news coming from those areas.  Fear is a relative concept. 

 (So thankful for friends who make me believe that my meow sounds like a roar!)

Every once in a while, our own lives are put into perspective.  If the trauma being endured in the south and midwest does not rise to that level for you, consider my friend whose husband has been out of work for 18 mo. Their son just graduated from college last week and, w/i the next few days, discovered that he  has diabetes. His student insurance expires this week, and he has no job w/ insurance benefits in sight.  Consider the director of the writer's conference I attended a few days ago.  He lost a granddaughter within the last year. Now the 3YO sibling of that little one has just had brain surgery.  Fear is relative.

And so, for tonight, the fraidy cat in me pauses and takes a deep breath. My fear is relative...relatively insignificant by comparison.  Everyone has a story.  Everyone has something that has the power to scare them almost literally to death.  God bless all those who have been in harm's way as they try to make sense of what has transpired in their lives. God bless all those who will rush to into harm's way to aid those who suffer.

God bless all of you who have become part of my little corner of the cyberspace universe.See you again soon. Thank you for all the times you've hit 'share' or 'send' to get the word out about my blog!

CA