The saga of Hurricane Ike seems long away and far away.  No traces remain in my neighborhood of the catastrophic event that killed at least 50 people and completely destroyed thousands of homes. On my street, we were without electricity for eight days and had numerous downed trees and piles and piles of debris and other waste.  It’s almost six weeks later and it’s all gone.  The physical effects have been wiped clear. Maybe there are a few less trees, but this devastating weather event seems like a non-event now.

My perspective is different than others in the city because I’ve been there so many storms. In fact, I can track my older daughter’s sixteen years through an alphabet of storms. She was born just before Hurricane Andrew…