Why hurricane Gustav too?

Hello!

I hope you're having a nice holiday weekend.. to those of you in the USA! I hope the rest of you in other countries are having a good weekend as well!

Hmmm where to start? Maybe with this... 3 years later and yet another major hurricane is heading our way. Even though I'm over 200 miles inland we're supposed to be getting hit by it too with heavy winds and possible flooding. We had severe storms here a few months back and several parts of the area flooded. Some people are still trying to recover from that.... but to me.... it's so much more right now.

I lived in New Orleans for a good part of my life. The house and neighborhood where I grew up in New Orleans East is completely gone from hurricane Katrina. For those of you that read my blog regularly, you probably already know how much I care about my "roots" and how I cherish southern Louisiana and Mississippi. My family settled down there 100's of years ago and some of my family still remains there. My grandmother lives in a nursing home on the gulf. After my parents and aunt and uncle cared for her for several years, it became too much for them to handle. No one wants to have to put someone in a nursing home. Especially someone they love... and someone they want to care for. It's heartbreaking. She has Alzheimer's and even though she knows who we are, she forgets something she did or said only minutes earlier. There's only so much you can do without medical assistance so it was a necessary thing. Anyway, she's being moved north (due to the hurricane) of there now along with everyone else... but it's scary.....someone else has my grandmothers life in their hands. I know they'll take good care of her I just worry...maybe too much.

Another thing..... my uncle... my father's younger brother....is missing. He's been missing for almost 2 weeks now. It's as if he vanished. I didn't want to get into this yet until I knew more but now with the hurricane coming (if it does hit where they expect it to) I'm afraid maybe I'll never know anything. It's a very long story and possibly in a few days I'll tell you more. I can say he left his house.... he left everything on... he left his dog.... all of his belongings... his VA identification card...important papers...clothes...you name it. The only things missing are him, his wallet, and his van. There was food in the slow cooker, a blanket on the couch was thrown back as if he got up for something, a book was laying on the table with his reading glasses on top, his medication is still there...and on and on. After over a week of being notified and trying to gather new information I finally reached an investigator that is going to check deeper into everything for us. BUT.... the hurricane is coming....he was on the gulf coast!!! What now??? How's someone going to help find him if the entire area is evacuated? He's listed in the NCIC as a missing person. I don't know much about that. I do know now the search is going to be on hold if the hurricane does come this way. He was last seen in Columbia, Mississippi. Prior to that he was in Gulfport, Mississippi. There may have been words between him and 2 other men. We're hoping for the best but of course fearing the worst. Even the police say it doesn't look good. He's a bit of a free spirit and moves around a lot but he wouldn't leave his pet... or his belongings. I don't know what else to do. We don't sleep much... it weighs heavily on our minds. Is there anything worse than not knowing where someone is or if they're okay??

I've invited friends and family to stay with us but of course most people don't want to because if the storm's coming this way they could be trapped longer...if we have floods of course. Anyway... we're ready for whoever needs a place to stay.

Did you really need to hear all of this? Probably not. I didn't want to cause a depressing experience that's for sure. I just wanted to let it out. That's what blogs are for right? A way of venting and telling the world your problems. Funny thing is.... believe it or not... until the past few years I was always somewhat of a private person. So much for that huh? ; )

You probably really wanted to know about beads. I have auctions ending on eBay tomorrow night. I have new charms to add. I want to add my Allures tomorrow night but that all depends on if I can get pictures. Yes.... I've been meaning to add them for a week now! Things keep coming up I guess! Maybe some miracle will happen...the hurricane will go away... and we'll have pretty weather next week. : )

Okay... I'm finished letting it all out for now. I usually feel better after I do. Maybe I do feel a little better. Thanks for listening... : )

Have a lovely rest of the weekend!

Best Wishes,

Rebecca : )