Good morning, crumpet!
Good morning, cupcake!
(No snide comments from the peanut gallery regarding blood sugar levels, thank you very much!)
I am *so* relieved that my sister-in-law and husband are well. My husband called his mother this morning and she sounded fantastic. I was frankly very afraid for my mother-in-law's health over this. The stress must have been enormous. (I know what I'm like if one of my kids is late getting back from the mall...I can't even imagine what it would be like to wonder for days if one of them was alive or dead.) Mom is getting up there in years, as happens to us all, and I'm a paranoid sort.
The only sad thing in the email forwarded by my brother-in-law's brother - if you follow that - was that they hadn't heard from "anyone in Waveport." Nor will they, sad to say. That Mississippi town of 7,000 has been erased from the map. It's just...gone.
I do have something along the lines of unsolicited advice: we all have relatives or friends that are on our "mean to" list...we "mean to" call, or we "mean to" write a letter or send a card. DO IT NOW. I recently began corresponding with my sister-in-law and her grown daughter again. Nothing had happened, just time and distance makes it so easy to think about someone but put off doing anything about it. I started sending little notes and cards, which were very well received...and to which a cheerful response always came.
If there has been a breach, heal it. If it has just been neglect, stop being neglectful. You never know if this chance to do something was your last chance. There are a lot of people out there who lost relatives on the Gulf Coast now saying "if only I had..." They'll say that for the rest of their lives.