More From Memory Lane

I was talking with my husband last night about the flood. We started talking about our favorite memories. Mine was the Red Cross van that would drive through the neighborhood, giving out sandwiches and bottled water to the people rehabbing their houses. You could be busy with a crowbar or hammer, up to your elbows in mold and sawdust, but when you heard the van drive by ringing the little bell you would drop everything and run outside. I remember sitting on a 5 gallon bucket eating a sandwich, looking at the nightmare that was my house, wondering if things would ever be normal again.

I guess people must have started getting tired of daily bologna sandwiches, or there were less people working, because the Red Cross guys started giving sandwiches to our dogs. After all, they were flood victims, too. They would even pour some of the bottled water in a little cup or bowl for the dogs, too. The dogs loved it. Any attention was a good thing, and when you throw in bologna sandwiches the dogs were in heaven.

The funniest thing was next year. The Red Cross didn't come give us any sandwiches anymore, but every time the ice cream truck drove by ringing their bell Buddy would go running to the corner. You could see this look on his face when the truck drove right by him. 'Where's my freaking sandwich?' he wondered.

My husband said his favorite memory was when Buddy ate so many bologna sandwiches he wouldn't eat any more. He said he didn't think a dog would ever turn down a bologna sandwich, but Buddy did. When the Red Cross guys would offer him a sandwich he would just look at them, thinking 'You have got to be crazy. If I ever eat another bologna sandwich you can just shot me.'