Gathering the Handkerchiefs

Before we'd set off into the great unknown of the Dogwood Trail, we'd gather our handkerchiefs. Tie them in knots and pierce long sticks through them. They would hold our precious necessities for the journey--rocks we wanted to share with our cousins, gum and crayons. We would not consider entering the Trail without our pack, our carefully prepared little handkerchief blob.

Hurricane Irene should hit us today, so we're gathering our handkerchiefs. Steve, Nick and Jacob lived through Katrina--in a parking garage of Charity Hospital. They know the exceptional, so they prepare for it. Jacob wants to know how high the water will come into our house (their home flooded while they were playing Gilligan's Island with Daddy). Nick is concerned about our dog, Bonnie, and where she will go. Steve, like for Hurricane Katrina, is on call, so he will be available for assistance via remote satellite (mobile phone if working). The boys cannot think about hurricanes the way most of us do. It is not just rain and wind and an exciting time to eat poptarts for a week. For Nick and Jacob, it's real. People die. People lose homes and dogs and innocence.

We'll build a palet party on mats in the basement, and have a candlelit book party. Maybe we'll call each other Huckleberry and Scout and Harry?! Ellie, God willing, will be sound asleep in her pack and play, dreaming of sugar plums. Somehow, I'm not imagining that with real confidence, but I'm trying!

With our batteries, bananas and peanut butter, toilet paper, bottled water and candles, we are ready for Irene. Though we did not invite you, per se, we'll meet you!

"Make a commitment to look for joy everywhere." I think I saw it this morning, while watching Ellie feed Bonnie. She's not supposed to do that (ruins our carefully placed "ladder of power" :)), but there they were, Ellie handing off her scrambled eggs and slippery waffles.

With a baseball team's worth of patron saints for storms, I think we'll hit all the positions with prayers and see how fun this handkerchief packed party can be.