I grew up in Houston, Texas and visited Galveston many times, played on the beach, ate at restaurants on the seawall. I always marveled at how high the seawall was above the sand. Tonight, as I watch the coverage of Hurricane Ike approaching Galveston and see the waves cresting their seawall, it’s almost unbelievable to me. Watching the places I wandered as a youngster be under water or destroyed is surreal. I wonder how the San Jacinto monument, a few hundred feet from the Houston Ship Channel, is faring? Is the Strand in Galveston going to survive another storm? Most of my friends there live miles inland, so they should be all right, far from the storm surge, but still I hold them in my prayers. It’s going to be a rough few days for them.