As the sun was going down on August 29, 2005, my 95-year-old, invalid mother died in my arms as we tried to escape the rising flood waters coming into our house by climbing the fold-down stairs into the attic of our house. The next morning, August 30, at about 9:30 AM, I had to leave her body behind in the bathroom of the house so I could swim to a neighbor\'s house to let him and his wife know that I was okay. Men in a flatboat who came to rescue me and other neighbors would not let me return to my house to rescue my two dogs, Peri and Tuppence.\r\n<\r\nWithout going into exhaustive detail, I will simply say that my past life died that day with Mother and my dogs. I now wish to devote my life to living my life to be a blessing to others.