Cold Spaghetti

Day Care One: A Montessori program. Located not far from the house, set over three mobile classroom units. Okay facilities, okay cleanliness, friendly staff. Ages 2 and younger in one room — which means toddlers and infants being looked after by same folks. (A problem.) 8:30-11:30, $75/week, registration and first week waived due to our “circumstances.” (Very nice and giving offer.)

Day Care Two: Baptist Church. Located very far from the house, through traffic, inconvenient. Super friendly and attentive staff. Nicely sized play-spaces. Snacks, drinks, and hot lunch provided. Pick up by noon, $15/day, unknown registration fee. No mention of church attendance, bible themes, or affliation. (We liked this place best.)

Day Care Three: Christ United Methodist. (Paul’s first comment: “An unfortunate acronym.”) Most impressive center. Very close to house and cafes with free internet (where I could work while Will is there.) Over several beautiful brick buildings, many classrooms, tons of toys, beautiful play-yards. Fall theme: “You, me, and Jesus.” 9-1, M-W-F, $130/month. $120 activities and registration fee. (This is the one we went with.)

Yes. We’ve enrolled our child in a very Christian day care! Not that I have anything wrong with Christianity or the Methodist Church. I believe in the power of faith and have great respect for every person’s system of belief. Heck, I’m ordained. However, hard-core Southern Christianity gives me the heebie-jeebies. Where is the line between this stuff and say, Pat Robertson? The “You, me, and Jesus” thing was a bit of a bump for me. It really just put it all out there… these folks are serious about this stuff. In addition to the “theme”, they also do Bible Stories (I think this is fine, I love the Old Testament). Although when we learned that they do the ABC’s based on bible stories (ie: “A is for Adam and Eve”) I had to bite my tongue to prevent asking “And is G for Gomorrah and W for the Whore of Babylon??”

Anyway, uncertainity aside, I liked the center a lot and quite liked the staff. And the number one plus: location, location, location. But signing Will up for this made me take some time to reflect… how do I deal with my feelings about this church and it’s teachings to my child? While it doesn’t bother me in a general sense, I have hesitation.

I am always fascinated with those who have such incredible faith and commitment to their belief system when it seems (to me at least) to beg so many questions. (Immaculate conception? Water into wine? I’m all for miracles, but let’s think realistically.) That kind of unquestioning belief is what I simultaneously find the most frustrating — and the most fascinating and compelling — about faith. My bottom line: expanding Will’s world is a good thing. But I think I will have to complement his Bible teachings with other stories from a range of religions and mythologies… Greek and Roman Mythology, the Holy Qur’an, the Sikh Holy Book, Norse Legend, the Ramayana… and whatever else I can find. This is the sort of mish-mosh of religious exposure I got growing up and I believe it helped to give me an appreciation for difference at a young age. It’s important to me that Will approaches the world’s religions together. I hope that this kind of unbiased exposure will help him one day find a home somewhere in faith, on his own terms and in his own time.

One of the inconveniences of being among the “displaced”: insurance.

So we’ve found out that our insurance (Humana) only applies to a small number of providers in and around New Orleans. Out of network? Cough up a heafty deductible ($100-500 per person) and pay 30-50% of your services… *if* Humana thinks that services are something they’d like to pay.

(Anyone who thinks privatization of social services is ever a good idea is terribly, terribly wrong. There is a reason that the civilized, healthy, and “developed” countries in the world have Universal health care systems. Why we do not is a question we all should be asking our government on a regular basis.)

Not wanting to be seen as unmerciful, our money-hungry, for-profit, “health” insurer reminded me that we have 30 days where we can see out-of-network providers on their tab. So, I called around and begged to get Will a pediatrician appointment before the end of September. Some challenges: the receptionist who couldn’t comprehend why I wasn’t able to answer whether Will would be seeing the doctor more than once, the nurse who wouldn’t take my word for word for what shots Will had received, and the many staff who couldn’t quite understand why I couldn’t have his records “transfered to their office.” Isn’t anyone watching the news?!

So, Will has an appointment with unknown Doc Castor, Wednesday at 1:30. Wish us luck.

Great headlines from the most recent issue of The Onion:

God Outdoes Terrorists Yet Again
Louisiana National Guard Offers Help By Phone From Iraq
Government Relief Workers Mosey In To Help
White Foragers Report Threat Of Black Looters
Bush Urges Victims To Gnaw On Bootstraps For Sustenance
Officials Uncertain Whether To Save Or Shoot Victims
Nation’s Politicians Applaud Great Job They’re Doing
Bush: ‘It Has Been Brought To My Attendtion That There Was Recently A Bad Storm’

When visiting my parents, they enjoy dressing him after his bath. My Mom gives him a soothing massage while she and my Dad sing to him. He loves it.

Tonight, he laid so still and quiet, listening to them sing (song selections include “Red Red Robin”, “Roses of Success”, “Toot Sweets”, “Be My Echo”, “High Hopes” and many more). When they were done and about to lay him to bed, he quietly said, “Moe”. (Will speak for “more”.)

So they laid him back down and sang another song to his smiling face.

Our neighbor, Walt, was kind enough to flash his doctor-ID and check out our place! His report: no catastrophic damage! In fact, aside from the huge mess we left in our packing haste, no real mess to report. Even our fridge (which he kindly cleaned out) was without rank odor. (A surprise perk of vegetarianism.) He noticed some yard damage (neighbor’s fence down) and other little things, but on the whole, a very, very good report.

It is too unbelieveable to think that we got through this relatively unscathed. There are a few known issues that require additional investigation that we want to check out once we can get back (the slow leak in the back addition roof, water blow into the eaves, wet insulation in the attic, etc.) But the bottom line is: we have a house, it has a solid roof, and there is no obvious damage preventing us from living there, eventually.

Can you hear our huge sigh of relief?

Thanks to everyone again for your thoughts and support.

We arrived back at my parents’ home in Mobile, Alabama Monday night. Will quickly re-adjusted to the familiar environment and his sleep difficulties quickly subsided. We had a good time visiting my brother Skip, sister-in-law Emily, friends Gwen and Mario (with Gwen’s dad, brother, and girlfriend!), and our NOLA neighbors Linda and Walt who were staying in St. Simon’s with Walt wonderful mother. It was nice to re-connect with so many and allowed us some options while Alabama power restored services to the area. Gasoline is still quite scarce, but we’ve been asking around and were able to find a great place yesterday with no lines. The stores are pretty much all open so today I’m going out to re-stock a bit on little things (ie: Will is out of toothpaste.)

Our ears are always tuned to the news from New Orleans. We frequent NOLA.com as well as related weblogs. We are anxious and hopeful for the opportunity to visit the house, collect some belongings (ie: toys and pajamas for Will, clothes for Paul, pillows for me), and assess any damage.

We’ve talked to our insurance agency (USAA) and they were generally good. We have a deductible of about $3000 (ouch) for any damage. The bummer is that if we do NOT have any damage, we will get no assistance in expenses related to the evacuation or in loss of use. In essence this makes sense: insurance is only for when you cannot habit your home due to damage, not because the city says you can’t, or because there is no power and water. Still, in this type of situation, you’d think they’d be a bit more flexible. We’re worried about potential damages from the house sitting empty that insurance may not cover. Hopefully we can get back soon and know exactly with what we are dealing.

Nonetheless, we are incredibly lucky to have a free place to stay that offers some free babysitting.

Will points out Bella-the-dog’s nose. 

S.L.U.T.S. : Southern Ladies Under Tremendous Stress 

Will at the park, St. Simon’s Island (photo by Aunt Gwen!) 

Will and Paul at the park, SSI.