in harms way

Tonight is surreal.
This photo is Mike sitting in the Gulf of Mexico, at Galveston. There's one of he and I at the beach, but you're not going to get to see that one. :-)
The day we visited there were flash flood warnings, and some flooding of streets, then an hour later we were swimming in the gulf and it was beautiful. The blogpost from that day is here.
Less than two weeks ago Chris was back there swimming and jet skiing with friends.

Today, I have sat in front of CNN and the Weather Channel waiting to see what IKE will do to Galveston and Houston 50 miles north.

A few times in my life I have felt like my kids were in harms way. A missed curfew, a text message of a lock down at school, that sort of thing, but this is crazy, sitting watching it come at him.

I'm not afraid, I am grateful that he's living in the college this year and not in a house off campus, like last year. He will be protected and well taken care of and it will be an adventure. And he's living in his cafeteria so at least he'll have food.

What I am is intensely aware of a newfound sense of compassion for the parents of soldiers. I don't know how they do it.

Have you ever experienced anything like this?