July first sighs

I go to bed at night, alone but with two cats.  I crank up the old computer in the morning (the one that works intermittently) and fix my coffee.  I check my email and my favorite blogs.  Remember I turned off TV coverage about a month ago.

Oh no, first my blog-friend Vicki has had an accident which totaled her car.  All I can do is comment along with other blogger friends our relief that she wasn't hurt too badly.

Then another blog alerts me to a wildfire which has taken the lives of 19 hotshot firefighters.  I quickly go look at news reports.  http://www.today.com/video/today/52362369#52362369
I chose to look at NBC rather than FOX, but what difference does it make in this awful story?  The facts are grim.  I post my sadness on my FaceBook page, sending condolences so their families may know peace.  There are also many people homeless as a result of this fire.  May they find comfort as well.

So this first of July is one of sighs. 

I spent last evening reading about another disaster which occured over a century ago.  My grandparents both lived through it, when about 6000 people were killed in the "Storm of 1900 in Galveston."  I re-read the book that my grandmother gave me, in which she had written, "I knew most of these people."  I scanned the photos and wanted to post them to Ancestry.com so that other relatives could see the devastation...not to gloat in "weren't the survivors lucky."  I want to share it because the event must have impacted the lives of all who lived through it.  I've met people who survived the devastation of Katrina in New Orleans, or Andrew in south Florida.   For many, there is a look in their eyes that is forever sad.

I feel very connected to those who have suffered, not because I have, but because I am touched in my heart.