Chapstick, Toothpaste, Aspirin, Pennies

I am thinking of small things. There's a rough patch on one of my fingers, and I'm looking through my Dragonball Z lunchbox for a nail clipper. Receipts, earphones, eyeliner, reading glasses, keys and more keys, my wallet, coupons for the next shopping trip, two bottles of OPI nail polish. The nail clipper turns up in a bookbag pocket and not in the lunchbox at all. The cuticle is clipped clean. A little hand cream soothes the spot. Annoying little problem solved. I wonder idly if there's a single nail clipper in the filthy, wilting Superdome.

Miss Sasha and Mr. Sasha, who still has that new-husband smell, moved to Pensacola in June. As the Mommy and an inveterate worrier, I offered to knit them an inflatable boat. Mr. Sasha is in the Air Force, which thoughtfully tossed its charges out of Pensacola for Dennis but demanded they stay put during Katrina. Miss Sasha promised everyone was completely prepared and there was nothing to worry about, but that they'd probably be out of touch for a while. By Tuesday, calls still went to voicemail. I didn't exactly chew my fingernails but I couldn't stop trying to bite my cuticles. Regular scissors didn't help.

Siobhan - who bears an uncanny resemblance to...someone - text-messaged Miss Sasha. Something to the effect of "Are you alive wtf call your mother." In the new, punctuation-free future, we will all speak English that, like Biblical Hebrew, is a whimsical language filled with muscular imagery and ascerbic wit. For instance, Miss Sasha sent back the truly minimalistic, "Fine, thanx."

Next, Miss Sasha called and chatted breezily about the huge rainstorm. They'd turned off their phones in case of power outage, she said.

Tata: That had the effect of scaring your family silly, by which I mean I am wrecking my manicure.
Miss Sasha: NO! NOT THAT!
Tata: You are SO GROUNDED.

In deference to my cuticle beds, Miss Sasha sent the family this email:

Mr. Sasha and I spent Aug 19-Aug 20 in New Orleans. We are so glad we got to see it before the storm but we now have pics that are weird to look at. We are fine, we didn't even lose power. We are involved in many fundraising events. The Olive Garden in Biloxi was demolished and the Red Lobster that my company owns has been flattened by 2 tornados. At work we have been trying to gather cans, clothes and anything else that can help.

Here are some before pictures of New Orleans, I am sure you are all seeing the after. More Pictures are following of how are apartment is doing.

We love you.

Sasha and Mr. Sasha

About the pics-The Jester Bar. Most of streets like Bourbon St.(Darker), Canal St.(Looks like a HUGE main strip), and Decatur (we ate at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, we have glasses from them). The road picture is I-10. The bridge across Lake Portchartrain. It is now very broken. I-10 goes throught the southern states like I-95. New Orleans is 200 miles from us, a 2 and a half hour drive (when Mr. Sasha drives!)

As we now know, the storm turned northeastward just before it made landfall, sparing New Orleans a direct hit. As we also know, there is no such thing as being prepared for a Category 5 hurricane. Miss Sasha says:

Yeah, just please tell people that Red Cross needs money BAD! and we have seen people everywhere sleeping in cars and in restaurant parking lots.

I am so glad that my guardian angels weren't on Bourbon Street that day drinking Hand Grenades.

A way with words, that one has. Small things. I am grateful for the small things.