Christmas - the thought is all that counts

How many times in our lives are we told "it isn't the gift but the thought behind it that really counts"? Some will argue that gift giving is better left alone if it is not full of personal thought. I guess from my personal point of view, I agree on the most part. However, I could tell you about one of my relatives who gave the same firecracker gift to me every year, and I remember her well for it. So I can attest to the fact that gift giving has its place even if the person giving does not know much about the person to whom it is given to. A relationship between two people is established and sustained, partially through the gift giving process.

Oops, we just introduced another concept to the equation - "process". Sure, gift giving is a process. For example, if you give to impress, that is the beginning of a process to gain something or expect something in return, thereby initiating a process. If you give to signify love, you expect to be loved. If you give to educate, you want feedback on how the education thought you had helped the one you wanted to educate. Some gifts are very simple and low cost such as a Christmas card. You hope to get a card back in return, not just a card to show off on a mantle or Christmas tree, but one that communicates socially, boosting the relationship you have with another person or family. Some gifts are intended to be worn and you want to see the recipient wearing it and enjoying it, and be remembered by your gift. Sometimes, the gift needs immediate feedback. A simple "thank you" will suffice. There are charitable cases where the gift needs no feedback except the fulfillment of helping another human being survive. But after the gift is given, it too goes through a process even when anonymous. But giving without feedback and reward, even if the reward is self gratification, is empty and defeats the purpose of giving. So the thought of the gift is related to the process.

I tried to test this concept on some of my grandchildren. The value of the gift was not going to be very important, but I would maximize its value given the economic outlook. Although a bizarre approach, I wanted to do this in a way that would create a laugh and be remembered, mainly because the two grandchildren are quite intelligent and they both have some attributes in common which I thought I could leverage.

So thinking that the new year could be an economically stressful one, we decided that the gift would be for the parents as well. So even under economic stress, the boys would be able to go to an entertainment facility next summer on a season pass that we gave them.

Christmas would not be Christmas if the children would not open wrapped gifts. Just a piece of paper in an envelope seemed totally inappropriate. So I packaged the tickets in some gift wrapped boxes. To tie the gifts to their Papaw, inside each box contained an ordinary leaf from a tree; the leaf was attached to a handwritten note indicating what kind of tree it represented and in a tone of good humor. The ticket was hidden underneath the leaf in an envelope. I wanted to take this a step further however. So for the eldest, I made up a large box and put trash in it. Yep, I said trash! All recyclable stuff including boxes, paper, plastic bottles, everything I could find to make sure it looked like trash. I made it where the boxes would be challenging to open (work is required for everything one desires to have in life) and the true gift difficult to find in the box (value is recognized relative to other things). I wrapped the boxes with normal Christmas paper and added a stem of Yaupon berries to decorate the box. This was to connect what I love to their gifts. I warned the parents in advance that something strange might happen in the opening of these gifts.

For a moment, I felt a little tenseness among the adults in the room when my grandchild opened the big box. He looked at the contents and said, "trash!". Of course he has a great disposition and understands his papaw and how different my approach may be. We all laughed. Now what? I put a couple of additional envelopes in strategic locations within the box with a written message that indicated he had not opened the true gift yet, so he would go through a search of the box. He opened those envelopes first, because they were most visible when he opened the box. I could feel a sigh of relief when he finally discovered the actual gift, which was hidden under a piece of Styrofoam packaging material in the box. He laughed and appreciated the gift. His brother went through the same process. They both showed everyone in the room the leaves and my blog's business card. Both can now name those two trees by the shape of their leaves. Both boys are outdoorsy, and I want them to learn more about the forest about them. This worked out fine. It will be a Christmas that both kids will always remember. The process? They will remember where the tickets came from next summer when they go to the entertainment facility. The eldest will always remember the trash gift; I have made a place in his life that he will always remember. (He said a "new tradition", but I doubt we will see this again for a long long time). I am reasonably sure I will hear about this again in the future.

So now you see the rest of the story. Gift giving is not just getting the appropriate gift for the child. It is being remembered for the gift, family tradition and the bonding event memory of everyone there, the learning of something new, and finally the inclusion of everyone in the family to make sure all benefit from it. Mission accomplished.

Don't be afraid to be creative; select gifts with purpose and thoughtful knowledge of the recipients. It is the thought that really counts!

Baby Boomers getting a bad deal for retirement

Let's do the twist! A failing economy for Baby Boomers is not exactly what the doctor ordered for this time of their lives. This generation has many workers ready to enjoy the fruits of their work, but alas! It is crumbling underneath them. The American dream really was put in place by a generation before them, but this group of people certainly lived the American dream. It is with this generation that the world has been explored with the realization of globalization and far reaching technology visions. These people were born under the nuclear threat instituted by the generation before them, lived most of their lives through the cold war and its related nuclear threat, and worked to secure the world. They experienced fear as fear had never before been experienced. Why should that fear be extended into retirement?

And yes, this and the following generations have comprised what we know as the generations of consumerism, as well as those of "anti-consumerism", counteracting the destruction of the earth. Witness the population explosion. Not only was it here in this country, but worldwide after World War II. Soldiers returned home to start families and catch up with lost time. They were world-savvy, prepared to work and play in other countries as well as in the USA. Like a bulldozer, streets of life were carved out of the earth as fast as possible to return to normality. The birth rate soared! Construction soared! Consumption of materials soared!

There has been a significant concern that these people would leave the employed in recent years. There would not be enough workers to support the economy, nor would there be enough money in Social Security.

I suppose that will all change now. 401K's have greatly diminished value by as much as 50%. So much for the lifestyle of this population. Oh sure, some will retire. Some have plenty. Many many others will see this not only as a loss of wealth and quality of lifestyle, but as a future threat to their financial security as well. Surely the stock market has proven that we cannot depend on it. We cannot depend on commodities either. Oil prices are down. Sure, gold is up, but I have known people who lost their shirts in gold during the 90's. The bottom could fall out on it at any time. It is at a fictitious price level, inflated by a temporary demand.

This generation's financial solution is to continue working as long as it can. That is the only way to secure the future. Putting money under the mattress does not seem a good idea either, nor holding it in a money market account. Face it, retirement money is indexed to the health of business, here and afar. So the flower generation will likely continue to rock and roll for a few more years. Maybe retiring at 70 is better than 66 and certainly better than 62.

I have found a site where this type of thought is shared by several writers - Boomer Cafe.

Celebration of Death - planned departure from life

It is with a great deal of confidence that I say these words are not normally connected. This is a story where this was quite the case. Although sad to lose a loved one, you want your loved one to leave this world surrounded by love and appreciation for who you have been and best wishes for next steps of existence. That is of course unless you are adamant that there is no after life. And even then, most people will most likely bend towards the possibility anyway that there may be something in store for the person about to depart. Whatever the opinion on this matter, if you get the opportunity to celebrate a death, it can be a very satisfying event. No, it will not change your grief of losing someone you have loved perhaps your entire lifetime, nor will it remove the sadness that death simply must be a part of life. It does bring the picture into focus and let's you have those final moments with your loved one, celebrating life's joys, accomplishments. Hope and aspiration are gone at this point. Those things are left with the ones you are leaving behind.

We had this opportunity. It sort of fell in our laps. One of my sons and I discussed this idea when the doctor said it was about over. She was now on life support systems and there was no hope that she would ever be able to live independent of them. She directed us to pull the plug if that situation ever arose in her health. My mother had been fighting a multi-organ failure, caused by a fall and lying on a hard floor for about 36 hours. For one month in the hospital ICU she fought kidney failure, heart issues, digestive system failure, and severe skin failures. She was 87 and carried with into the hospital the goal to live to be at least 90. She had things to do, places to go. It was clear from the onset that she was to going to go down without a string battle. This was bothersome to the staff at the hospital. They wanted her to be without pain, totally comfortable. That is another story to be told. The point here is that she really did fight to recover. However, at every turn where she would improve, another thing would go wrong. The final blow was her lungs. She could no longer respire on her own, constantly battling new outbreaks of liquid on her lungs.

At 11AM, we met with the staff to discuss her condition. The decision was made to let her go. We would pull the respirator off. The doctor said it could take a few hours for her to pass away, but she would do so within 24 hours afterward. So the idea - let's take her off of the medicines that are keeping her sedated and unable to be conscious but keep her on pain medicine. The hospital staff resisted that idea but we won out in the debate, although we allowed some of the sedation on their advice but little of it. We called close friends and family to tell them what was going to happen. We would not take her off the respirator until the evening when everyone could get there. Some might have to travel some distance.

That afternoon, the sedatives began to dwindle in their effect. We had actually lowered them by request the night before but the staff had increased them in the morning, so we reversed that and by mid-afternoon she was able to communicate with her eyes and follow us by moving her head.During this time, we chose to be with her and watch her vital signs. At 6PM came the doctor.

He with the help from an assistant removed most of the tubes and then the breathing apparatus. Her food intake and other medical treatments by tube continued. The tubes for the kidneys were also removed. Everything to make her more comfortable! We had arranged for a CD player to be brought in and her bible was close at hand so that we could read to her.

The room began to fill rapidly. We made sure she knew when every person who came into the room. Her favorite hymn music was being played and one member of the family sat on either side of the bed holding her hands and occasionally hugging her. We would talk about things of the past and what was coming for the family. We talked about celebration - her life. It had indeed been a beautiful and long life. She had even a great great grandchild. Her children had lived a religious life and been successful. Some of her grandchildren had joined her church also. She had been a fine example to all of us and all of us wanted to be like her, accomplishing things, being a contributor to family successes throughout our lives. Yep, 87 years of continual service to God and family, well worth a celebration in which she should participate. And she did, as weak as she was, participate in her own celebration of life. She would soon enter into the world of the dead

Immediately after the respirator was cut off from her, she breathed rapidly and gasped for breath. I talked to her about how to make that easier and she changed to deep breaths. The oxygen level in her blood was not sufficiently high to sustain life for very long, so we understood that she was in a departing process. We would have been quite happy if that had been reversed but it did not. This would be better for her now and we knew it.

Now she was dying. Her heart continued to beat as it did before. There was a glimmer of hope in my mind, but I was prepared for the end. We talked. We laughed. We loved. As we changed who was next to her and as time passed, things being discussed about her and us and how we had finally reached where we were, her friends and some family had to get something to eat and get some rest. We had celebrated and the night was upon us. So after some three hours, the room quietened. Within five minutes, she gave up with two of her grandchildren by her side. I received a text message and then a call - "better come back". We ran. Her last heartbeats were showing on the monitor. We sat with her as she passed away, letting her brain cells fail and her heart to totally quit. She was dead. We cried. "She has gone to a better place." It is now the wait she has and hope in death for her savior's return. That was surely on her mind at the very end. Her family and friends had said good-by with great love! She can rest in peace.

Anxiety in the middle of the night

Having lost a loved one very recently, I am realizing there are parts to life one recognizes deep in the mind, which are evasive when all is calm and routine. When life's balance is interrupted by tragedy or unexpected death, or even expected death in the family, the human mind can reel off various triggers as one sleeps. Such a trigger went off this morning, alerting me subconsciously that something was wrong. Then the conscious part of the brain too over and I woke up. Not to forget the incident and in fact share it, I am writing this little entry into the blog.

So what happened? Nothing and that was the problem. For years, I have looked after my 87 year old mom who lives in another city, making sure someone was doing something for her or someone had something planned for her, or I had contacted her and said something to her to please her and make her feel loved.

I woke up in panic mode, thinking I had not done anything for a long time and had let things slip.

She passed away six weeks ago. Lesson? Be there for your parents when they get old. Make sure they are part of your daily routine. They will not be there forever and time moves so quickly! Part of liv'n is dying. We all know that. Also part of liv'n is caring and making sure those who are dying get to enjoy that which remains. We may be less aware of that. Everyone living is dying. We are probably too busy to realize this. There is less urgency in it.

The Last Lecture - reading to identify self and lessons learned

An incredible life journey for a common man with a common life reveals powerful lessons in life. Death of course is part of life. Early death is a tragedy. How do you turn a tragedy into a legacy for your family and friends? It has something to do with attitude. Here are the lessons I embrace from Randy Pausch, the author, who lived a life of only 47 years. I see him very similar to myself, so his book struck home very strongly for me. I hope that you read his book also and finish with a different circumspect vision of yourself as I did. This is the reason this book is so popular. It is a short but not one to be taken lightly.

• Family is foremost in all things. The father and mother play very important roles in a child's life. Being a father is to see that the child gets the opportunity to dream and set his roots into his vision of life, but guided and encouraged by his parents to be his own individual person. A daughter is very special and a good father will recognize that and see to it that she has the relationship needed to eventually embrace life as a woman with strong family and interpersonal values. Who falls in love with your daughter first? It is the father! I too am a member of the "wrapped-around-my-daughter's-finger club". Both sons and daughters learn from team sports, which by the way are not an extension of the parents but a learning experience of the child. Give your children as many opportunities as you can for this indirect learning. It is a "head fake", the type where your children learn what you want them to learn without them knowing it. The relationship of man and wife is difficult to maintain and grow. Direct communication and the realization of gaps is very important. Acceptance of the our mate is paramount to a good relationship regardless of perceived flaws.
• A positive attitude which seeks resolution on issues is like coasting downhill to happiness. Everything else becomes easier. Whining gets one nowhere; no one wants to hear it. When we're done whining, we are not any happier.
• What others think of us is not very important. What we think of others is. Look for the good in others and good will eventually come of it, especially if you specifically note it. Apply this rule to your children. They want to know that you like and appreciate about them. Tell them exactly why.
• Advice to a daughter - watch what the guys do, not what they say. Sweet talkers are a dime a dozen. The good ones operating from the heart are not so numerous.
• Define experience - what you got when you didn't get what you wanted.
• Be personal with people. Write notes by hand. You will be remembered and appreciated much more when picking the right time to write a note by hand. Typing on paper is impersonal. When meeting someone new, invest the time and effort to remember that person. At that time, that person is the most important person in the world to you.
• Give what you receive. Call this "forwarding on". Your rewards will be numerous.
• Preparation is a way to achieve and enjoy. Think ahead and do "what if's". That can improve the quality of your life tremendously.
• There are three parts to an apology. Tell it like it is, not what you want it to be. (1) What did I do wrong? (2) I feel badly for what I did. (3) How can I make it better?
• The truth will set you free. It also sets the stage for others to open up to you. Embrace it as a habit.
• Inventory your childhood dreams and live them. Do not forget them. Set doable goals to achieve them. They are the backbone of your existence.
• Remember your roots and the guiding compass you were given. Every step of the way is influenced by that compass.
• One can live in two cultures, taking the best of the two together. Just identify the best and move on.
• It is alright to be heads over heals in love with someone. Enjoy it.
• We are given a hand to play. Play it!
• The brick wall that we cannot seem to climb over is often our most valued asset. It shows us how badly we want something and when we do manage to scale it, we are much better off for conquering it.
• Humility goes a very long way to acceptance and love. That trait is durable and worth every penny invested in it.
• There are professional and personal legacies to be dealt with in this life. Take steps to ensure you have both in your sight long before you face death so you can look back on it and be consoled when you do eventually pass away. You never know when it will come.
• Early death is not the same as late death but the approach probably should be the same. Treat life as if you have a short time to live. Every day, every hour is important. Manage your time.
• In death, be reassured and give reassurance to those you love that in your passing, part of each person you love also passes with you. You take something of everyone you love with you to the grave. This is good and your family and friends should know that. You are comforted by that little something you take with you.
• Understand that in death there are two types of insurance. The traditional financial kind and the less definable emotional type. Your job is to prepare both for your family.

  you read the book, I suggest watching the video of his actual last lecture: http://www.thelastlecture.com/

If you have read this book, I would love to hear what you learned from it and how you feel about your life relative to it.

Family Reunion - kernel of love, a bridge

I recently went to a family reunion, one that I organized. For years, I was "too busy" to participate in any Christmas gatherings, reunions or the such. I got almost totally out of touch with the larger family and more focused on my wife's family than mine. It had been five years since my family had it's last reunion, and some members of the family I have not seen since that time. So much water has flowed under the bridge since that reunion. This article is intended to describe that bridge and its relevance to today's family. This picture tells the story. Uncle Russ. Is he loved by his nephews or what?

Unfortunately, the last five years has seen the loss of half of my mothers' siblings. One aunt, one uncle and their spouses have passed away. Other relatives on this side of the family have also passed - some young, some elderly. That water will never pass under that bridge again. I have regrets for not asking them many questions and reminding them that I loved them. I had little interaction with them and missed a great deal of my heritage, yet I knew them as if I lived with them. Why is that, I ask? For one thing the relationships were for many decades. Over those decades, we talked many times about our family and heritage - memories, questions, answers.

The base of our relationships over those years has been the kernel of love. You will find it's heart on that old bridge which passes over a river, cutting through the earth for millenniums. As more water passed under it, the water became deeper, just like the love that bonds the family. Since America began, that river has deepened for many families as their relationships developed and ancestries were preserved. In the last century alone, the importance of the family has become much more pronounced in America. Important questions abound on disease inheritance, national bloodline inheritance, and family history. Sometimes, there is a concentration of ancestors in specific areas of this country or another country. We want to meet some of those people. We want to understand where we came from and be able to pass that information to our children and grand children.

I once sought a possible family link in Scotland to only discover that the Scottish clan where I may have had roots, consisted of murderers, thieves and robbers. Later I found that I was not related to them. That gave me a sigh of relief. Now I wish I had some connection like that to pre-American ancestors. We do have some photos 100+ years old to help and some information linking us to very early immigrants. Maybe that will lead me to another place on the other side of the ocean. That could give us some real connectivity with the past.

So after putting this reunion together, I am already planning the next one. We will have one at a historical site of the family rather a contemporary site and do it next year! It will be a learning and bonding experience for everyone.

If you would like to share your family reunion experiences and any advice you have to make excellent bonds within the family, please do so in the attached comment section. I would personally love to hear about your thoughts and experiences. I am sure my readers would as well.

My own advice? Listen to the flow of the water. Stand on that bridge and gaze into that water. Don't think it too difficult to see into the water nor that it is not valuable to capture what passes by. You won't be disappointed. Like my aunt said, "I love my family." It is our heritage, our blood, our past. Whatever happens there, it happens. Family is important to our children and our children's children. Embrace and protect your heritage. There may be skeletons in the closet but the reality is there, so do not divorce the family if there are dark kept secrets. Knowing empowers us to have good health and take measures assuming that we inherit the good and bad traits of our ancestors. Computer software is available to document and share knowledge. Old photos can be reproduced easily. Chances are that one family member knows how to use the software and to doctor old photographs and make them available to others.Sometimes we find relative information in newspapers. Other times, in relative's storage boxes.

Preparing for Hurricanes - Woodlands edition

Having lived in The Woodlands for 12 years does not make me an expert on hurricanes here; neither does living on the coast for my entire life, but after experiencing a few of them as a victim and as a spectator, I am ready to share what I know and what I do to prepare for them.

First, a hurricane is just a routine summer event around here. It's like being at a shooting range and being the target. You think one of the shooters might hit you, so you dodge your head or jump to the side. Or you see someone with a shotgun - then you just get the heck out of Dodge! We expect hurricanes. We plan for hurricanes. We rarely get the heck out of Dodge, because we live in this place, and we want to be with our possessions when the high winds come.

Sure, we live far away from the coast. But I tell you what. I can drive down there in a little over a couple of hours! We are not that far away from the worse of a storm. Although out of harm's way for tidal surges, we are in a prime wind threat area, including tornadoes and flooding. People say, I have never seen it flood here. Then one or two who have lived here their whole lives step up to say, "remember the flood of 1994?". Personally, I have not lived here long enough to vouch for the few floods in this particular area, but in the general area I live, Southwest Texas, I can testify for flood conditions many times, whether it be a tropical storm or just a tropical thunderstorm. The flood of 1994 was caused by a torrential rain from a tropical storm - 30 inches of rain in Magnolia Texas flooding the nearby watersheds and affecting Spring Creek flooding.

In any summer, we basically live in the tropics where water comes from the sky in torrents like Noah's flood. We live next to a creek that sends the runoff water to Lake Houston. That exit is limited. The creek turns into a huge running lake, dammed up by excess water. It has no where to go except up and then it spreads spatially to the lowest places it can find, like any flooding river or spring. I have reviewed the local area for flood vulnerability. Water will collect in low spots and along the main exit arteries such as Spring Creek. I live on ground 165 feet above sea level. Much of Grogan's Mill is 20 feet lower; my home is 20 feet lower than the intersection of 2978 and Woodlands Parkway. In case of Noah's flood, I think I will take my tent and canoe up there.

Let's talk about wind. What if Freeport and Southwest Houston was hit directly by a major hurricane? I lived in Southwest Houston when a cat 3 hurricane (Alicia) did that very thing. At landfall, the storm packed 130 MPH winds. The eye passed right over our home. Just a small storm, mind you. By the time it reached us, the winds had subsided to about 80MPH, a Cat 1. Trees fell and power went out. My automobile was trapped inside tree rubble, and I could not leave the house until it was cleared. Further to the east and north (the dirty side of any storm), in the Spring area, homes were without power for two weeks for some people. Trees fell in many places. That damage was only from tropical storm winds in this area! We had about 90 MPH winds in Southwest Houston and here about 70 MPH with higher gusts. People living in Spring at that time remember it well. Just ask them. There is a discussion on the topic at Weather.com by Dr Stephen Lyons.

Let's take a cat 5 storm with winds of 180 MPH striking the coast at the same place. Houston would be a disaster zone. The tidal wave would reach all the way to Loop 610. So water would not exit the rivers and streams very easily as long as the effect of the tidal surge was so high. Assume for the moment that the storm is moving fairly fast, say 12 MPH. That would give us about 8 inches of rain. If it was moving at 5 MPH, we would have about 20 inches of rain, all within about one day. Now that would have some noticeable effect! Flooding would be terrible.

My basic fear in this area is the wind. We could see winds of some 120 MPH in such a storm. Pines are like twigs in such a wind. The problem is not the velocity itself, because a pine can withstand that wind force. The problem is the shifting directions of the wind causing an entire tree to snap in two, just like whipping a brittle stick. I have seen that result here in routine thunderstorms. One thunderstorm caused a downdraft that brought a large pine crashing down on a neighbor's home and it sliced the home into two sections. Have you ever researched what a tree weighs? If you have ever cut one down, you realize that they weigh tons, literally. See this USDA article on a study of weight vs height. OK then, tons of falling timber on your roof, your car and no telling on what else, would certainly not be safe. I believe everyone would agree on that. That would be a safe bet! And people wonder why some folks evacuated from here to escape from hurricane Rita.

The solution is not to cut down the trees. Our trees are very valuable. If you have ever assessed the monetary value of a tree, you know that insurance does not pay much for them but they may take 50 years to get the size that we have them here. That is a lifetime. In reality, our trees are priceless. They are highly prized in this community. Your tree is mine and mine is yours. They are abstractly communal property.

No, the solution is to get the heck out of dodge when you are in harm's way. A shootout at OK corral is not the smart thing to do with your family. They are much more important than anything you have in your home or anything in it. That is why people evacuate.

My advice? Take super hurricanes very seriously and do not risk the health of your family for macho reasons nor for material things. Board your windows. One thunderstorm came through and a tree limb was blown out of a nearby tree through one of our windows. Shattered glass was everywhere in the room where we normally watch TV. If my children had been in there watching TV, they could have been killed by that shrapnel. As it was, they were upstairs at the time and we were busy doing chores in the house. I thank God that he taught me that lesson without harming my family. Now, the blinds and curtains are drawn for thunderstorms. For hurricanes, tape the windows. The amount of damage that a sliver of glass can cause is proportional to the velocity of the wind that blasts it through the air. Make sure everything outside is picked up. The winds can take plastic chairs and easily hurl them a hundred feet. Your neighbor could be the victim. A bird feeder could be hurled through a window. Make sure the trees are trimmed away from the house. You don't want tree limbs crashing against your home. They may just take the siding off the home.

These are other precautionary measures one should consider. If you go on vacation in August or September, assume your home will be hit by a hurricane. Don't leave it as it was. Leave it as you want to find it when you return. My advice is to expand this beyond hurricane season because Fall and Spring cold fronts often bring similar threats to your home.

OK then, you did not evacuate and decided to face the storm. I hope you have candles, water, batteries, flashlights, canned goods (you might also consider a manual can opener which does not require electricity), butane or propane gas and a generator. Always fill up one car with gasoline if not all of your automobiles. That gasoline can come in handy of you need to leave or you need it simply for storage of extra gasoline to use in the generator. A gas BBQ would be great under such an emergency, especially if you depend on electricity for cooking. You should have first aid kits(s). I have plywood ready to nail to the house should I need it. Remember, an ambulance may not be available to you. A firetruck may not be available to you. Plan for the worse and hope for the best. The stores tend to run out of it quickly. It is miserable to have a long power outage. Mosquitoes, humidity, continuing rains after the storm all contribute to a raw ugly living standard for days. If water cannot be delivered, that makes it even a worse situation. Communications may be lost. Have a book or two available, you may need some reading material. Most of all, keep track of all the little ones and the pets. Wandering off in a disaster cannot be tolerated. Have an way to get emergency news. A battery operated radio could be quite useful.

I listened to the news via short wave in Corpus Christi when we decided to weather out Hurricane Carla. In retrospect, my dad played the odds and was macho in his approach to that storm. Had it turned into Corpus Christi, the storm surge would have put our home 15-20 feet under water. I am glad I did not know that then. It was a fun adventure for our family but could have been the end of us.

One useful reference to understand the frequency of storms just to our south may be this link, looking at Freeport Texas.

Local emergency preparation information can be found at the Community Associations site.

Play it cool. The chances of being hit my such a major storm is small. Know that you are ready and not be panicky when threatened. Decide when you will leave and follow your plan.