Four Hurricanes, 2004--New Year's Eve 2004

It is New Year's Eve 2004 and I am at the Marriott Hotel in Rancho Cordova (Sacramento).

Starting on September 12 I have been processing loans in Sacramento for the Charley, Francis, Jeanne, and Ivan Hurricane Victims.  All four SBA offices are being used (Texas, New York, Georgia, California) and I was lucky enough to be called just a few hours from home.  They are using me as a Supervising Loan Officer this trip and I have not been able to go home at all since we have been working 10 to 12 hours a day and the end is not in sight.

However, Maria and her family came to be with me at the Marriott in Rancho Cordova (Sacramento) for Thanksgiving and we ate of the Black Angus in Folsom.

For Christmas I was lucky enough to have 10 days and I traveled to Park City, Utah and spent Christmas with all my children and grandchildren except for John, of course, who passed away in New Orleans on April 5.  We missed him very much.

It has been a traumatic year with the loss of my firstborn but I am tremendously blessed with love from my other children and their families. 

In mid-January of this year I returned from Hurricane Isabel and flooding in West Virginia duty.