Five Things Friday: Blessed (Unsettling) Bubble Edition

So much hard stuff happening around us right now. I can't help but be in awe of our good fortune. Here's a taste of what's happening.

1. My hometown and all the neighboring communities are flooded. Not flash floods but genuine, live-updates-from-CNN-worthy FLOODED. Of course, there's so much going on in the world that there aren't any live updates from CNN... but that doesn't diminish the devastation. My brother and his wife live right next to the Susquehanna River. If you've heard anything at all about these floods, you've heard of that river. They can't get back into their house yet and have no idea how much they've lost... just that it's a LOT. I don't believe there's been any loss of life, but they have had to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people. It's hard to know how an entire region bounces back from something like this.

I know this community will come together... just wish they didn't have to for this.

2. Meanwhile, my sister - who lives in PA and whose neighbors are flooded - got the gift of LICE at her house last night. They've gone through this before but this time it's a HUGE infestation. And for the first time ever, she's got it in her OWN hair. So, last night as I was clicking all over Facebook and pondering the devastation, she was doing 6 million loads of laundry, combing through her families hair and basically freaking out about how she was going to get rid of the lice. A back to school blessing. Ugh.

3. Of course while the East Coast drowns, my friends in Oklahoma and Texas are scorched. Scary wild fires, outrageous temperatures for months on end. I know neither scenario is a good one, but I can't help thinking that I would deal with a flood better than a scary drought. Having NO WATER just seems more horrifying than having way too much. 

4. Rick Perry got the biggest applause of the night at Republican debate on Wednesday when Brian Williams mentioned that he approved the execution of 234 people. I don't think you have to be against the death penalty or a Liberal Weeny (both of which I'll cop to being) to ascertain that the enthusiasm in that room for that statistic is unnerving. Maybe all 234 were guilty of horrible crimes. Maybe. But is Texas better off with them dead? And is it better off enough for a big Waaa Hooo? It's an unknown form of Christianity to me to celebrate killing.

5. Finally I'll sum up some good things to cleanse the emotional downer I've brought you: My kids love school and I am so far managing the back-to-the-grind schedule. We'll see what happens when my husband finally heads back to teaching on September 19th...