Date: Fri, 02 Sep 2005 21:44:50 -0000
Subject: [Gleann Abhann] To the People of Gleann Abhann and the SCA

Greetings from Radu and Broinnfinn, Lord and Lady Heir of Gleann
Abhann,

First and foremost, we wish to offer our deepest thanks to the
overwhelming offers of aid to ourselves personally, to all of our
friends and family affected by this disaster, and to our Principality.
We have been touched to tears by the concerns of mere acquaintances
and total strangers.  We also offer profound thanks to Their Majesties
of Meridies and the Meridian Seneschal for coordinating relief efforts
to those members of the SCA in the affected areas.

As has been posted on our behalf, our ability to communicate has been
somewhat limited. We can call out by cell, but nobody can call in to
us.  We have internet access only by invading the houses of others.
We are grateful to the Principality Officers and the members of our
personal household who have taken our dropped reins and have been
coordinating our concerns.  If you do not receive quick responses to
our emails, please give us time.  Somebody WILL get back with you.  We
apologize that our situation has prevented us from being the kind of
Kingdom Leaders we wish to be.

We will briefly outline our situation.  One block from our home, which
we built less than four years ago, a neighbor was rescued by boat from
his second story. Our house took on over eight feet of water and is a
total loss.  Our truck, which was left behind in the evacuation,
cannot be seen at all on reconnaissance photos of the area.  The house
and all of our contents is a complete loss, and we, and our 2-month
old son are homeless.  Our places of employment are unable to function
for many months. We cannot get home to salvage what little we have
left because we have been unable to get gasoline in Jackson, MS.

We tell you this, not to be self-centered, but to put a face on this
enormous tragedy.  There are thousands of people just like us - they
have not only lost their homes, but their entire city and livelihood.
We have discovered, through this tragedy, our enormous good fortune.
Our lifelong involvement in the Society has given us a safety net of
people that we never truly appreciated until this moment.  There are
many of those thousands who are far worse off than us.  Please
remember these souls as well - we meet them at everyplace we go in
Jackson.  You may not know them, and they may know nothing of us, but
we are united in this tragedy.  Her Ladyship found herself comforting
a sobbing girl in Target as she bought soap because she had lost her
home and job, and she had nowhere to turn.

In the light of this devastation, SCA matters seem trivial. But this
is far from the case.  When all else has been lost, we cling to those
things we still have - the slivers of normalcy and a life beyond the
loss.  Things like Gleann Abhann's First Coronation ARE important.
Because, when all the banners, crowns and thrones are stripped away,
when we stop addressing each other with funny titles, and go past that
we dress in funny clothes, what is left is a community of the most
generous and caring people that has ever existed.  This is a community
that deserves to be celebrated and recognized and cherished for the
concern and brotherhood that we have shared.

We are in communication (in fact, currently in the house of) the
Gleann Abhann Seneschal Master Stephan of Durham.  We are determined
that Gleann Abhann Coronation WILL occur as soon as we can make
alternative arrangements.  As Her Ladyship says - we will do it
barefoot in our shifts in a parking lot if necessary.  We thank those
who have assured us it will be more dignified than that!

Please keep tuned in for the final announcement of the Coronation
plans.  And we hope that the rest of the Known World will still come
and join us in both celebration and thanksgiving.

Radu and Broinnfinn
Lord and Lady Heir of Gleann Abhann