I just found out why, after paying insurance premiums for decades, we have to give our insurance check to our mortgage company, who will pay us upon three inspection completions, the last two of which we must pay for. (Oh, the things you learn in a catastrophe which you hope and pray you will never have to use again.) Two reasons: 1) stupid bankers who dished out money to people who couldn’t pay it back and now WE have to pay for their misjudgments; and 2) stupid Katrina homeowners who were given half the price of their ruined homes up front, and then, because of the drop in the housing market, knew they couldn’t get any more for their house even if they did rebuild, so took off with that money – thus leaving the bank hounding the insurance companies for the remaining half. And who pays for that, too? The banks? The homeowner thieves? Nope and nope. Us honest folk.
Someday… someday I’ll be able to use all this catastrophe knowledge in my writing. But I’m doing historical fiction and fantasy at the moment. So right now I’m just crossing my arms and stamping my feet at the situation. Does it help, you ask? Very good question.
Author Sandy Carlson 
Sandy–I’ve been thinking of you and your family and grateful I can keep up with your storm recovery via your blog. You certainly teach those of us who have never had such an experience about trying to get back to normal. My prayers are still with you all and hope you’ll get your lives back in the not-too-distant future. I’m mainly you and your family survived (and so sorry about the tree guy.)
Love,
Barb Yirka
Dearest Barb,
How lovely to hear from you. Your thoughts and prayers are very much felt and appreciated. Thank you. I know “this, too, shall pass,” and I don’t mean to be stuck on it, but am afraid if I don’t get it down in my journal or blog, that a year from now I’ll be complacent and forgetful. There are so many others throghout the world in far worse conditions than we are in. This is merely a scratch. But I need to own it.
On an entirely different subject, any time I need a smile or hug, I’ll go hug one of your books, or flip open to read any old passage. You are one of my favorite heroes.
Love,
Sandy