Looks like Gustav is going to hit the Gulf Coast with a pretty strong impact and could be worse than Katrina. God help us all.

It is great to see that most officials learned a lot from Katrina, a few years ago.

Mayor Ray Nagin has ordered a mandatory evacuation, and busses are picking people up who don't have cars, the LA Guard is airlifting patients from hospitals and the evacuation seems to ve very orderly. He told people to get out and get out now, and there will be no "shelter of last resort" like the Superdome. Good work Mayor.

Also the state is up and running, thanks to the new governor Bobby Jindal, who replaced that complete idiot Kathleen Blanco, who was about 70% responsible for the Katrina disaster a few years ago. National Guard has been mobilized and state emergency aid is being prepared.

And the Feds are even getting involved early, HOmeland Security and FEMA are being mobilized and are on top of the situation.

Some lessons were learned, BUT I have a question.

Reading through a lot of the news bulletins, I keep seeing a common thread in regard to talks about the potential for a storm surge and a levee break again. It keeps mentioning the "uncompleted work" or the levees "that still have not been completely rebuilt three years after Katrina."

My sister Ruth flew down to visit me on Saturday and she stayed until Tuesday. Her visit was one of the reasons I could not attend Dave's funeral (for my new friends please read my previous post) which was held on Friday.

A little background here. Ruth and I were born fourteen years apart, in fact I was a real "late in life baby" as Mom had me at 42, back when women barely had kids at 35, let alone 40. She left for college when I was only three and so I don't have a lot of memories of her from my early youth. Truth to say, she seemed more of an Aunt than a sister at times. We took a few family vacations together, but Ruth got a teaching job locally and moved out of the house when I was about 11. We were never close.

Ruth married when she was 32 and I was graduating high school. She had my nieces in quick succession a few years later (their current ages 23, 22 and 20) and yet we were still far apart in terms of age, marital status and various other things. I do recall getting a birthday card from her when I was 22 or so, in which she mentioned that she really appreciated me and never realized what a loyal brother I had been, as she thanked me for playing such an active role in her childrens' and her her life. That felt nice.

A year later our Mother was diagnosed with her brain tumor and that really brought our family together. One year following that Ruth was diagnosed with breast cancer. What a crushing blow to our entire family. Mom has cancer and now Sister brings out the same tragic news. From 1990 - 1993 Ruth had a mastectomy and a few years later, the cancer spread to other parts of her chest as well. She had to have more surgery and a stem cell transplant as treatment. Here she was with three daughters all less than ten years old, a devoted husband, a loyal brother and a father who was dealing with cancer in the two most important women in his life.

I remember finding out about the reappearance of the cancer in '93, and was so shaken I could not even go home to my apartment that I shared with my cousin. Ruth did not want any family members to know about this just yet, but I knew if I went home, Cousin John would figure out something was wrong with me, just from the way I looked. I called my then girlfriend, LuAnn, and asked if I could come over. Luann soothed me and comforted me, while I cried and raged against God and the unfairness of all these health problems that had suddenly descended on my family like an avalanche.

Well Ruth fought through that one, surving the stem cell transplant, which at one point she told me made her the sickest out of all the treatments she had been forced to undergo during those hellish years. She recoverd and eventually had some reconstructive surgery, but at one point told me, she "could not face lying on another operating table."

And this weekend she came down to visit me and We played golf together! I know, what your are thinking, "Pike, why did you just bold face golf?" Well because after her upper body was ravaged by radiation, chemo and mastectomy, Ruth told me sometime in the '90s she would probably never play golf again. Well, she was able to build her strength back up and took up the game again a few years ago. My brother in law also took up the game as well. You have no idea how proud I was to share a golf cart with my sister and watch her swing a club again. There we were just like when I was a teen, sharing a cart, complimenting each other's shots and proving once again that neither one of us take "constructive criticism" of our golf games very well.

I loved having her visit me here in Texas. There had been some tense times in our adult relationship over the years, espeically when she was the one with the stable career, the nice home, the spouse and the children while I drifted through my twenties. It was like we were on different planets at times. But as her girls were born and she saw how much I loved my nieces and was able to help her out when she could not perform all of her parental duties, due to her physical weakness things seemed to get better. A couple of times I went over to their house just to help bathe and get the girls ready for bed while she was too weak to even move. (Understand that when she was first diagnosed her daughters were aged 5, 4 and 2). We got even closer.

She was a big supporter of my earning my teaching degree and my subsequent move to Texas. I was so proud to have her visit MY house. Ruth always loved entertaining and her sense of style, manners and class always impressed me. She never missed a birthday or anniversary and was always there with a card to commemerate the occasion. She was an awesome gift giver. She always knew the perfect gift for Christmas or birthdays. I like to joke that "Martha Stewart calls her for advice." I was so proud to have my Sister visit me, her bachelor brother and check out my home.

Yes, I am a bachelor male, but I take pride in my house. I have bought nice furniture, dark woods-warm cherry and oak and I have tried to develop some sense of "style." THere are no beer signs or girly posters on my walls. I have framed art and have tried to create a home that is masculine, but not in the arrested adolescent, "never grew up" male we seem to read about so much.

Ruth complimented me on the house. She thought my furniture, art and decorations went well together. I was so proud. "Martha" even helped me pick out a rug to go in my living room. There I was, shopping for a rug with my sister, (Ruth dutifuly carrying one of my sofa pillows into the stores to match) whom I have had an up and down relationship with over forty odd years.

I was very proud!

Ruth had gone to the funeral in Ohio for Dave on Friday. She drove the two hours or so with my Dad and my Aunt and Uncle who are all in their 80s and were not fit to drive that distance. She said it was a fitting tribute to the life that Dave had lived, and she observed something that would not be unusual for those of us who had known that family. She simply stated that theirs was such a "loving family."

She told me that both Dave's youngest son, my cousin Phillip, and their parish priest spoke lovingly at the funeral mass of Dave's great qualities and warmth and innate generosity and humanity. I was utterly shocked when Ruth told me that she learned that Dave was a convert and not the "cradle Catholic" we all assumed he was.

She said that Jerry and Phillip's wives (both named Linda BTW) attended to, and cared for Janet as if she was their own Mother, not just mother in law.

Gary shared my tribute (that I had posted here) with Janet and said that it perked her up and brought her much joy in this tragic time.

Ruth had not seen their family in years, but they all recognized her and could not wait to talk to her and catch up and they were so appreciative for bringing Dad and my Aunt and Uncle down.

All Ruth could talk about was the love, the deep and undying love of Dave and Janet's family. And we are already talking about getting together next year and not "putting it off" like we have been.

Oh yes, and the "surprising revelation" I promised?

During the course of one of our meals together during the weekend, Ruth told me an amazing fact. She is the "longest living survivor of a stem cell transplant in this entire country. Fifteen years and counting. I asked her if she was in medical textbooks yet. She demurred, saying, no but she was brought up in consultatons and conferences all the time.

My Sister, my beloved sister is the longest living survivor of that treatment. Her oncologist refers to her as "His Miracle."

Well to tie all the loose ends of the story together, yesterday I dropped Ruth off at the airport, which is quite a drive for me, so I decided to avoid rush hour traffic and hang out in Houston for a bit, have dinner, maybe check some things out.

Back in Pittsburgh I had a a group of friends who used to play NTN trivia regularly. We used to play at Damon's and various other locations. You played the game and then could see how your scores compared to other locations and individuals throughout the US and Canada. I have not played NTN in quite some time, but decided to stop off and see my old friends for a game. They were glad to see me.

Well when the final scores came up, one of the top fifty scores for that game was a familiar name. It was the trivia handle of Luann, who had cradled me in her arms and wiped away my tears on that horrible night fifteen years ago, when I learned that Ruth was going under the knife again.

Wow, Ruth visits and Luann wins trivia that week. I emailed Luann and told her about Ruth and golf and I thanked her again for her compassion for me all those years ago. She replied that God is great and has given me all these years with my sister, years that are a miracle that we have had.

My Sister Ruth, the miracle, the longest-living survivor of that treatment, even is she still won't take any advice about her golf game.

Hug your loved ones for me my friends. Hug them good.

I received a phone call yesterday from my cousin Gary, to tell me that his father, Dave, had had a sudden heart attack during the night and died on the way to the hospital. Dave was 81.

Gary was still obviously in shock, as he told me that they had just played golf and went out to lunch that very day and Dave seemed in great health. And now, he is gone.

Dave was one of my favorite relatives in my huge extended family, in fact the whole family is beloved to me and my own. We are related though my Dad and Dave's wife Janet; they are first cousins as her Father and my grandfather were brothers, making Janet my first cousin once removed. We lived in Pittsburgh and they lived in Canton-Akron area, only about two hours away. We often visited them, and they us, and our families vacationed together often when I was growing up.

I only have one sister so my immediate family has always been small, but both my paternal grandparents came from huge families. Grand-pap D_______ was a farm boy who was one of 13 and Grandma was one of 11, so second and third cousins were a plentiful. I always remember asking Dad "how are we related to........" as we made numerous visits to kin all over the country.

Yeah, we visited a lot, but my favorites were always Dave and Janet. It was alway Dave and Janet. Hey, when we gonna see Dave and Janet? Dave and Janet coming over? When's Dave and Janet gonna get here.

I had a friend in college who had an interesting theoy. He said that "fun" was a tangible human commodity, for lack of a better word. His theory went that, as we are born with a certain amount of blood or a certain number of fingers or toes, each human was also born with a certain amount of "fun." And that affected all people around them. Some people are fun vacuums. We have all met those types. They walk into a room and suck the fun right out of it, like gravity and light disappearing into a black hole. Other people are fun cyclones; they walk into a room and just bring out the fun in everyone else, while lighting it up themselves. Dave and Janet were definitely the latter. If you had not met them, I told people that "You have not had the "Dave and Janet Experience." Sounds kind of like a jazz combo, doesn't it? "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Dave and Janet Experience."

Dave and Janet had four children, Gary (who called me), Jerry, Kathleen and Philip. As I was a late in life baby I was much younger than them, Philip being five years older than me. As a kid visiting I was aware of this and, always kind of felt bad for Philip as he was usually the one who got "stuck with me" as he was the youngest.

They were an outdoorsy type family, much more so than us. We used to camp a lot on long trips when I was young, but not so much later. Well their family was always camping. They had a tent trailer that went everywhere. They were fishermen, but we were not. I learned in my teens and Dave and Philip helped to teach me. My Dad dabbled a little bit in it, but he was never that much into it either. But that did not stop us from having lots of fun as we vacationed together.

We used to go to Pymatuning on the PA/OH border, a lodge in the middle of rural Ohio and even to the Maryland shore. It was always, swimming and boating and fishing and cookouts, drinks by the campfire and roasting marshmallows. Some real fond memories there, and Dave and Janet were always there, always laughing, telling great stories and just being them.

Ah the stories. In their travels, Dave and Janet have had more interesting, off-beat, weird, exciting things happen to them than anyone else I know or have ever known. My sister half seriously suggested they should write a travel book of all the weird things that have happened to them over the years.

Among the highlights:

Janet once left her purse, hanging on the peg in a ladies room at a gas station. This was not discovered until they had driven a hundred or so miles. When they back-tracked, there it was still hanging on the peg.

Once, they actually left a child. They drove off from a campground without Gary. I can't remember how far they got, but when they returned, there was Gary sitting there waiting patiently for them to return.

Janet once capsized the canoe, while a flabbergasted Dave looked on.

Once on the golf course Dave threatened to get physical with someone he thought had insulted Janet. Dave is ready to pop the guy while Janet is repeatedly saying, "Dave that's the wrong guy."

Dave, Jerry, Gary and I had an adventure having our car towed in the Cleveland Flats after an Indians game.

It goes on and on. I am smiling just recalling these stories, which is kind of taking the edge off the saddness of Dave's passing.

They were from Ohio and we were from Pennsylvania; they were die-hard Cleveland fans, while we cheered on the Pittsburgh teams. During the seventies the rivalry was intense. If the Steelers beat the Browns, we picked up the phone, on the off chance the Browns won, our phone was ringing within minutes of the final gun.

Social events were always fun. Dave and Janet loved to party. I still recall on vacations where he and my dad would have a shot of Crown Royal in the morning as an "eye opener." Dave even offered me one when I was in my late teens. Let's just say I don't have the appreciation for whiskey that I have now, and he and Dad enjoyed watching my reaction.

He worked for the phone company for his entire career, back in those days of Ma Bell and the best monopoly this country ever saw. He and Janet have several grandchildren and the first great grandchild was born last year. It is a shame that little Emily will not ever know what a fine man her great grand dad was.

And the sad thing is that I have not seen them in years. In fact it may be nine years, since they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1999. All those trips up home I never managed to divert my route to visit. It seemed like it was always something in the way. We tried! Believe me we tried, but they were always leaving on vacation or my dad was leaving on one of his overseas trips and we "just missed each other." My heart is breaking when I think that we did not make a point to see one another more.

I guess that is an important lesson. Don't put it off. You never know what is going to happen.

Regrettably I will not be able to attend the funeral. I am off school but my sister is flying down to visit on Saturday and the mass is on Friday. There will be no traditional viewing at the funeral home, (a bit of a surprise here as it flies against standard Catholic practice) but Gary told me that Dave did not want a bunch of people looking at him after he is gone. HE will then be cremated. Dave also was an organ donor. I hope some of Dave's wit, humor, warmth, compassion, generosity and (yes) FUN will be passed along to whoever receives his final parting gift to humanity.

So today my heart is with Janet, Gary, Jerry, Kathleen and Philip, their spouses and children and grandchildren. It breaks my heart that I will not be there.

Rest in Peace Dave. The world has a lot less "fun" in it today.