Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?

Reading the National Weather Service forecast for New Orleans just makes me sick.

I can’t stand to think of that beautiful, lively, historic city flattened. I’m praying for a last minute miracle. We had such a wonderful time there on our South trip last May. I remember munching beignets at Cafe Du Monde, stopping to watch street performers in Jackson Square, examining Russian art in a gallery with Todd, wandering through the Voodoo Museum, trying on vintage dresses with Sue, riding the streetcar through the mansions of the Garden District, brunching on Bananas Foster at Brennan's, queueing up for Po Boys at Domilise's, downing endless daiquiris and hand grenades while hanging out in the French Quarter and yes, drinking hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's. The city laughed at these storms by naming a powerful drink after them, but they may not be able to swallow this one. Now the French Quarter has gone quiet, and the mayor actually said "God bless us."

People have been predicting this for years, but we've also been predicting a giant quake for LA and San Francisco, and a possible volcano eruption for Washington's own Mount Rainier, yet people still set up homes there, just as they did in New Orleans. We all roll the dice when we settle down -- no city is safe from every national disaster -- and this time it's beautiful old New Orleans on the block. Tomorrow it could be my hometown, or yours. God bless us, every one.