I think it’s safe to say that we all join the fine people down in Louisiana in breathing a sigh of relief.  Hurricane Gustav didn’t have as much gusto has first feared.

I watched the path of the storm pretty closely during the Labor Day weekend.  I have tons of cousins in Louisiana.  Most of them are in the Lafayette area.  (Just FYI… they pronounce it laugh-a-yette).  My dad is in Orange, which is right on the Texas-Lousiana coast.  I was concerned that Orange could take a direct hit.  I love my dad dearly, but he can be pretty stubborn.  I knew he wouldn’t evacuate very easily.  I called him Sunday and he said it didn’t look like Orange would get much from the storm.  He had no plans to leave the area.  I prayed he was right and promised I’d call him again in a few days.

Well, thankfully Dad was right.  I actually saw a national correspondent reporting from Beaumont, Texas yesterday.  Beaumont is about 25 miles from Orange.  It was a bit breezy, but nice and sunny.  I was so relieved.

I have yet to make contact with all of my cousins, but the early word is they all weathered the storm just fine.  Even during Hurricane Katrina, I only had one cousin who had some damage to her home.  She and her husband have rebuilt their dream home.  We all hope they never have to go through another nightmare like Hurricane Katrina.

My sister-in-law once asked me if my dad was ready to leave the Gulf Coast because of all of the hurricanes.  Well, my dad is in his 70’s and he’s lived in either Texas or Louisiana his entire life.  He’s not going anywhere.  Hurricanes don’t really scare him.  He made his living in the shipbuilding business, so he doesn’t fear the water.  He does, however, respect it.  I don’t think we can run from Mother Nature any more than we can run from life.  Let’s face it.  Along the coast they deal with hurricanes.  Here in Indiana, we deal with tornadoes.  In California, there are fears about huge earthquakes.  There’s always going to be something.  I’m just relieved that Gustav didn’t turn into something significant.