Rita is gone :-)

My what a night. It is finally over though, and the day has brought power outages, onages, outages, and finally on for good. The wind howled well into the day, but Rita is finally making her exodus and we are safe once again.

The sounds now turn from furious winds to clattering choppers. You know like on the beginning of M*A*S*H*? Today a dozen or so flew over at one time going to start the rescues of those that chose to stay. God be with them - and with the ones Rita is setting her sites on. The generators in the distance fire up to keep the refridgerators cold, the chain saws hum cutting the trees, the rakes scraping the debris once again. This time, once more, we are safe.

For now I rest listening to the gentle breezes in the garden. Today, we lay and think of those in Rita's path, realizing that while the world is twirling, there are people in our garden frightened and taking cover. Not only frightened of the storm, but of the war or the famine... of what life has in store for them.

My day is over, but tomorrow is a new day. The sun will rise and flowers will bloom again, and hope will fill my heart as it always does. Tomorrow, my friend, I will think of you.