Bluffs & Bayous

June 2010-Health & Wellness

From the Publisher...

Wow…May was certainly a month for the history books as all of us in the Bluffs & Bayous area have witnessed history in the making. River water levels have surpassed the records of the 1937 Mississippi River flood; and as I write this, we are striving to maintain multiple levees around towns, businesses, homes, and hospitals while our neighbors in the lower lying areas along the river are working minute to minute to keep the sand boils at bay. Many already have lost so much to the flooding with homes, livelihoods, and life as they have known it for decades….all inundated. It has been an exhausting month and a merciless month, a reminder that Ole Man River and Mother Nature will have their way despite our attempts to regulate and control them. It is an awesome and humbling reminder of something far greater than the best efforts of humankind. Our plight also has brought a bonding of the many communities along the river with those who are concerned and call from all parts of the country, thinking all of us are under water.

While we in Natchez on the bluff as well as those of us high on the hills of Vicksburg are not directly experiencing the flooding, many of us have property in the lowlands north and south of the cities and even across the river—farm lands, hunting camps, and lake homes—that the flood waters currently threaten or already have taken. Although we realize that we cannot totally control the river, we prepared in advance as much as humanly possible and assisted in somewhat allaying the damage . . . though all the while feeling rather limited in the larger scheme of things. In the weeks and days and hours and minutes of shoring up, preparing for, and awaiting our fate from the Father of Waters, I have seen the anxiety and stress give way to acceptance and determination, the acceptance that this is life along and beyond the Mississippi and the determination to see it through to a brighter beyond.

So, in the midst of knowing that this tough time, too, will pass and that we tough Southerners will (with a humble nod to our own William Faulkner) “not merely survive; we will prevail,” we turn our thoughts and energies to focus on some positives of our lives. For Bluffs & Bayous this month that focus is on wellness and healthy living, and ee have a plethora of information to encourage you to live a healthier lifestyle. I am reminded daily of my goals to exercise and eat healthy and also to exercise and sharpen my mind so I can make wiser choices for a healthier me. A unique addition to our annual health issue comes to us from Brookhaven, Mississippi’s Maggie Cupit as she shares her blog of a year’s fight against cancer. Hers is an inspiring journey of strength and determination to overcome cancer and, as a survivor, to minister to others who encounter this dread disease. Her experience also is a reminder that our good health is, indeed, a phenomenal blessing. May your June be an enriching, healthful, and stress-free beginning to the summer months as we pray for the river to recede with little to no additional damage and as we continue to appreciate, celebrate, and stand in awe of our life along and beyond the Mississippi.