Her name is Sadie Katz...my neice...my brother's first born. She has a daughter named Skye. We text-ed most of the night away. Many of her neighbors left. She didn't. I'm trying not to judge. I suppose it felt safer there in her little house with her baby daughter sleeping safely in her own bed than traveling in crazy weather through maddening traffic with road rage and hysteria going....where?....to shelters?...a strange town with strange people? She decided to stay put and take the chance that all would be okay. Her electricity went out and we continued texting. I asked her to try to keep the battery in her phone full by charging with her car charger. I kept asking her what she was doing to pass the time, with the electricity out. Her boyfriend, Dusty, was listening to music on his phone...she and I were texting funny messages back and forth, Skye was sleeping that blissfully peaceful baby sleep that is gifted to the young. One message said she was listening to the wind picking up. It was very warm. The rain was coming harder and harder. I asked if she could leave at that point. The answer was no...."strict curfew, roads closed". Her mayor asked the people that stayed to write their social security numbers on their arms in permanent marker for identification purposes. That's when sleep became a no-option...when the image of Sadie writing her baby daughter's SS number on her tender little arm placed itself in my mind and stayed there....it's still there...
We lost contact soon thereafter. At around 4:30 AM Conroe, TX time, all cell power was lost. Rescue crews were incapacitated. They didn't know where to begin, if they even could get out because they didn't know who had stayed or left. So, the phoning began. I, here at my daughters in southern California, began calling my sister and children in Ohio. Between all of us, we figured out Sadie's address (she's an independent young woman) and my sister emailed news outlets that promised to get the information to rescue operations so that they would know where to go.
So, this is where we are...I texted Sadie with the messages that help is on the way. That family came together. And this final text...."you are cherished"....aren't we all?
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ADDENDUM: I received a text from Sadie. She couldn't provide details but said she had enough of a signal to tell everyone that they had made it. She would give details later but she wanted us to know she and Skye were okay. Whew! amen and amen....
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