"A Thousand May Fall at Your Side, Ten Thousand at Your Right Side, But it Will Not Come Nigh You..." Psalms 91

The morning we left my brother's house to head for New York, Cappy and I went to a Bob Evan's Restaurant while we were waiting for the dawgs to be finished with their grooming. The waitress asked, "You aren't from around here, are you?" This launched a discussion about Louisiana; how beautiful New Orleans was when she visited, the disaster, and now the new hurricane, Rita, playing coy with Texas and Louisiana. After she left with our order, two distinquished black gentlemen sitting nearby took up the conversation with us. They, as are we all, were very upset with the politics of it all. The delays that caused so much more death and anguish. I have to admit we got heated up along with them, got out our soapbox, agreeing with what they were saying about the situation and the feeling of helplessness. It was refreshing to have a venue to vent, even if it was only in an intelligent conversation at a breakfast table in a restaurant in Winchester Canal, Ohio. As they got up to leave they came over to shake our hands. We hated to see them go. Cappy stood up, clasped each of their hands in his and told them what an honor it was for us to meet them. When the waitress brought us our breakfast, she told us that the two gentlemen had paid our tab! I had a hard time seeing my plate during the whole meal; everything looked blurry because of the tears in my eyes. Here we are, nobody...we hadn't suffered any loss, but they paid for our breakfast.
This happened to us a couple more times. We are still shaking our heads over it.
In Port Allegany, PA, I took Cappy to one of our family 'traditions'. We 'had' to stop at the Tastee Freeze and get a soft swirl ice cream cone with a crunchy chocolate dip. (I had to settle for just the ice cream in a dish). While we were waiting for the lady to fix us up, I showed Cappy the local high school booster sticker on the case. It read, "Go Gators!" He looked a little confused til I explained that Gators are the high school mascots and the name of the team. Somehow that sparked the same conversation about Louisiana and the hurricanes with the lady who was serving us. When we handed her the money, she refused and said, "No, let me buy your ice cream for you". I was going to protest, but Cappy gave me a look that said not to.
When it happened again, at the Texas Hots in Wellsville, NY, I was starting to feel as though we were somehow taking advantage of very nice people, and we hadn't suffered at all...not really, from the Storms. Cappy explained that even though they had mentioned that they had sent help of one kind or another, such as donations to the Red Cross, etc., he thought it was their way of somehow reaching out touching Louisiana in a personal way. He said, "Sometimes ya just gotta let people do that; accept the good that they are trying to do. If you refuse, you hurt their feelings and it's like a slap in the face to them." I think I understand.
Cappy wanted me to post this picture. He took it while driving his tugboat up Bayou Lafourche after Katrina. This home came within inches of being destroyed by the tree falling into it. The tree still stands there, off-balance, hovering only an inch or two, over the house. There's a statue in the yard that shows someone in the home has Faith. To Cappy it speaks of The Hand of God Protecting and Blessing His people while the storms around them rage.