Nightmarish Night

Both my boys abandoned me last night, making for an altogether ominous night alone. Shadow was restless because of the full moon. I took him outside, thinking he might need to relieve himself, but all he did was bark and listen to all the other dogs barking. It was almost creepy how light it was outside. The air itself looked silvery, and visibility seemed the same as daylight at first. Then I noticed that everything wore its nighttime veil of shadows and secrecy. I remembered a statistic I heard once that the crime rate skyrockets on nights of the full moon. Nervous, I called to Shadow to come in. Just then, the high-pitched yips and howls of coyotes filled the night, and Shadow froze. It sounded like a pack of the wild, lonely dogs were in our front yard. Shadow sat down, listening with his head cocked to the side. I called and called for Shadow to come in, visions of night prowlers creeping into my mind's eye. He wandered back to the door, and relucantly came in. As soon as I laid down, he started barking again. STUPID DOG! I got up, put my robe back on, and took the stupid dog back outside. Midnight. Sleep, finally.

A terribly realistic nightmare haunted me in the early morning hours. Kyle, my little brother, went missing. He had been on some sort of trip with friends, and was on some sort of lake or ocean when he went underwater and that's the last his friend Cory saw of him. We were posting Missing signs up everywhere. I remember the intense mental battle of maintaining hope that he was alive and battling thoughts that he was dead. At the end of the dream, I stumbled upon a foot; the rest of the body was buried under something. (I read a Hurricane Katrina article where a woman stepped on the foot of a dead child, the rest of whose body was buried under rubble.) The foot I found was Kyle's; I could tell by looking. For a horrific moment, I stared at the foot, willing it to move, to signal life. It did! His foot actually wiggled, and Kyle raised up, and he was alive! I was crying, and then I woke up. Love you, brother!

What a frightening, lonely night without Hubby... He'll be back soon.

HOT TUB (gonna make ya sweat!)

Hey people! Sorry it's been a while. I'm sure you've all been waiting for baited breath for this very moment--a new post! Anyhoo, the big news in my life is that Hubby and I just bought a brand-new, super-sweet, ah-so-lovely-feeling, hot tub (That's not it at the right; just a random one I found on the Internet...but you get the idea!)! We've been getting in it every night since we got it--well since we filled it up anyway. Friends and loved ones, come and join us! It's really funny, b/c last night Jay and I were in there, and at some point, I noticed I'd been talking almost nonstop ever since we got in about a hundred different things on my mind: job switch, my theory on J's chubby cheeks (when his hair grows out, his cheeks appear smaller; he just got a haircut, so they look quite cherub-like again. You say chipmunk, I say cherub:), my theory on the relationships of our friends, etc. "This is so cool, because we can get in here and just talk every night," I said. "Yeah," Jay said, and kept messing with his jets. "Or, I can talk, and you can fiddle with the hot tub!" which is basically what was happening all evening. But he listens, so it's all good! (Guy readers-kyle-are like uh, no he doesn't.)

Okay, so let me say that last night's Rock Star: INXS was flippin' awesome! I think I might actually be rooting for JD the monster-jerk now! I think he's been characterized that way on the show, but really, he's a typical, driven, egotistical lead singer-type. Pretty Vegas made me dance all over the living room, with Shadow barking at me like I'd gone mad. And then Money!! But, Marty's perfs of Trees and Villain were both pretty suh-weet! (Bonus points to anyone who can identify where that word comes from!)

One more reality TV comment and then I'll quit: Janelle is going to win BB6! I have this feeling. If she can get Ivette to be the last woman standing with her, she just might have it in the bag, as many people as Ivette has offended and annoyed, even within the Friendsheep. Mark my words!!

Shoutout to lil bro Kyle this week, as he will be turning 17 on Friday! Love you, brother!

Praying and hoping

I keep thinking the Gulf states will start looking better in the news, but it's just getting worse. People are angry and bewildered: they don't know why their government didn't help them evacuate and why they're not getting the supplies they need now. They're saying people won't be able to come back to their hometown for at least six months! Plus, the Corps of Engineers says it's never faced a problem like this, having to stop up levies and pump out so much water. In addition to deaths caused by the hurricane itself, people are still dying of heat exhaustion because there's nowhere for them to go. (Photo Credit: AFP)

Whenever I turn on the news I want to throw up and cry at the same time. Let me offer all my faithful readers (all two) some advice though: Do something good. That helpless feeling we all feel when we turn on the news and see the devastation can easily be cured by us doing two things:

1. Pray for the people down there. "The effective and fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." (James 5:16)
2. Help people. Our church is taking up a special collection Sunday to send down the relief efforts. Also, a lady at my work knows a woman who just took in three stepchildren (in addition to the five children she already has) who just had their home destroyed by Katrina. We're taking up a collection at work and I'm going to Goodwill tomorrow to buy the kids some clothes. The kids and their mom left so quickly, they basically only have the clothes on their backs. Comb your closets for old clothes, grab your little sister/brother's old toys, and take them to a donation dropoff. I think you can even buy toiletry stuff and give it to them. I know Brown's Funeral Home in Durant is taking donations.

That horrible feeling of helplessness and sadness I feel whenever I think about those people is already ebbing away, just because I know I'm doing something to help alleviate the devastation. Let's pray they start feeling some hope as they get the help they need.