Thursday, September 22, 2005

Worrywart and Rita

When I mentioned my bro is in the Coast Guard, did I forget to mention that he's stationed at Galveston? And that he and my wonderful SIL just bought their first house about 12 miles from there, which was under a mandatory evacuation order? And that she's 6 1/2 months into her first pregnancy with a "high risk" flag due to high blood pressure already? Oh, and on Monday they sent her to an Oncologist because they were worried about high white cell counts on her last blood draw? (who did allay their fears by saying he didn't see any signs of the big bad C... and was inclined to chalk up her lab results to the pregnancy or a lingering illness/cough she's had, but took some more blood to be sure).

I'm a little freaked out. Having bad dreams on their behalf (would you dream people pick up a damned power drill and piece of plywood already and get busy already??!!). She's already evacuated to her Dad's north of Houston but bro will be riding out the storm in Reliant stadium and will then deploy for search & rescue. Bro says they're fine, they have insurance and isn't worried. SIL says she's doing OK and it's just stuff. But it was really hard not having him there when she was driving away from her home, and the nursery and all the hard work they've done and not know what would be left when they came back. She knew it would be this way when she married him but this is the first big test and it's harder than she thought.

I'm not really worried about them physically. I'm more worried they'll come home to a nightmare of matchsticks for a crib (and everything else) and a waterlogged nursery full of moldy toxic stuffed animals and baby clothes which insurance will find some way to weasel out of paying to fix/replace. And the stress and trauma of dealing with the clean up will cause her more problems with the pregnancy, etc. etc.

So that's fine guys - don't worry. I'll do it for you. I'm really, really good at that. Not quite as good as Grandma, but close.

**Update: As you know by now Rita veered to the east and spared Galveston/Houston a direct hit. Word is my bro and SIL had a fence blow down in the backyard but that was it, other than some cosmetic damage. Crisis averted.

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