TGIF

As this week winds down to a close, the weekend is just beginning to get into high gear. My daughter has her first slumber party tonight, and she is about to burst with excitement. I am trying to remember my first slumber party, and my earliest memory of one is with my Girl Scout troop at my best friend's beach house in Galveston, Texas. I remember sleeping on the porch of the house, outside- I have no idea why. But I also remember being told I had to wash my own dishes and never having done that before (I'm so young in this memory I don't even have glasses yet).

That beach house later was destroyed in a hurricane, and they never re-built. To this day I have friends that live in Galveston, who were fortunate enough to survive last year's hurricane season, and they're aren't so sure they want to stay. I can't blame them.

The tie-in here is that I was watching a special on Hurricane Katrina on CNN last night and I was sad AND angry by the time I couldn't bear to watch anymore. A portion of the episode was how people couldn't get money from their insurance (I'm sure the insurance companies stood to go bankrupt from the devastation) but also how our government has not come through for its own people.

I just am shocked how much time has gone by and people still have nothing. I feel so badly for these families, and feel so thankful for everything I have. But why don't we hear more about this in the news? Where's the outrage? Where's the support of other people? Is it really just easier to not look, to not know the devastation. This was the first report I have seen on Katrina in a while, and I'm still left with feelings of sadness and of anger.

The people that aren't stepping up- the insurance company CEO's and FEMA- I just don't understand how they can sleep at night. To my readers in the south, my first home- I send you my best wishes, prayers of insurance claims accepted, and FEMA trailers that can be used for more than weight in the swamp. To my readers here in Southern California that relocated here after Katrina, I hope you have found a warm welcome and a promise of a good life here come true.