Give and Take

This morning, the wife and I headed out to the pinky toe of the San Fernando Valley to look at ovens and have our first budget meeting with the company building our house. It was fun picking out the kitchen of my dreams, and the cost meeting was suprisingly easy -- no out-of-control costs...yet. We spoke about a lot of details (like door handles and tile) and met the interior designer (who was anything like the South Florida big-haired weirdo I imagined her to be.

Exhausted, we returned home and switched on the TV. The news was full of reports from the South on the devastation from Hurricane Katrina. I saw the streets full of water, looters walking out of stores with bags full of stuff, and people looking around in fear and disbleief. My wife spoke to someone whose family lived in New Orleans. Her mother may be in the Astrodome, but she's not sure. There's only one radio station on the air, the rest is static.

It was an interesting contrast -- me building a house, and these people losing theirs. I can't imagine what they must be feeling. The utter loss. As I sat and watched the newscast, a Simon and Garfunkle song, Bookends, crept into my mind.

""Time it was and what a time it was it was.
A time of innocence, a time of confidences.
Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph.
Preserve your memories; they're all that's left you."

Let's help.