Sometime yesterday I went from major hurricane mode and consideration of having to evacuate a second time to being able to breathe a sigh of relief and relax for the first time in a week. Frankly, the prospect of being able to enjoy the weather for the first time since Gustav came roaring into town, is much appreciated. I began to think about Hurricane Betsy, the 43rd anniversary of which was this past week. Hurricane Betsy was the first storm that taught me the magnitude of what a hurricane could do and it gave me insight into how dangerous these storms could be. My mom and dad flew over the hurricane as they journeyed to Guatemala and the Yucatan Peninsula for a two-week vacation. They literally flew over Betsy and came back just after essential services had been restored. My housekeeper Victoria was in charge of taking care of my sister and me and we had no electricity for most of that fortnight. Many storms have come and gone in the intervening decades, but I always respected them after Betsy, even when they were just at tropical storm strength. Now that Ike has made a more westerly track towards Texas or Mexico and lost most of its power, I am ready to think about more important things like the presidential campaign or the recovery effort going on in Houma or maybe about the onset of fall. In any event I am now ready to keep my mind affixed on any of these events as long as I can keep my attention off tropical storm activities.
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