Something to lighten the mood...mother found children alive.

[Tyler]

This was in the Trib today…
thought it might lighten the mood a bit to hear some good news coming out of the tragedy stricken area…

@The Salt Lake Tribune

Mom’s patience pays off; finds kids are fine
By Mike Cronin
The Salt Lake Tribune

Patience seems to run in the Ainsworth family.
For days, Kesha Ainsworth wrestled with the virtue, worrying where her three young children were. They disappeared somewhere in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina ravaged their Biloxi hometown.
Her husband’s cousin, Tomeka Ainsworth, must be blessed with a reservoir of a similar kind of composure - or cruelty, depending on how you look at it.
For Tomeka just listened to her cousin-in-law while sitting in her Hattiesburg, Miss., home on Saturday night. An entire 35 minutes Kesha went from crying about her kids to recounting the acts of kindness she received from Salt Lake City residents. She has been here for just a few weeks, yet so many people who don’t even know her have offered their help.
“That’s wonderful,” Tomeka told the 29-year-old Salt Lake City massage-therapy student when she stopped. “I have someone here who wants to talk to you.”
Kesha Ainsworth figured it was another extended family member wanting to lend her support.
So forgive her "screamin’ and hollerin,’ " then, when her 9-year-old daughter Alexis got on the phone and said, “Mom, get down here as soon as possible. Like, today or tomorrow.”
Alexis said she was doing better. Someone had given her some new clothes to put on. But she was still scared. She had seen dead bodies.
Next she spoke with Dewontay, her 6-year-old son.
“He told me he was scared, too, but he felt a little bit better,” she said. “He said, ‘I lost everything. But I still have my Pokemon game.’ I said, ‘OK, good.’ He told me he loved me and I told him I loved him.”
Finally, her 4-year-old, Damion, got on the line.
“Are you scared?” Kesha asked him.
“Of what?” Damion asked back.
“He’s a strong little boy, anyway,” Kesha said later.
Turns out, Tomeka found her grandmother living in a FEMA tent with the three children in Biloxi.
A Salt Lake City resident who wishes to remain anonymous is paying for Kesha’s flight to Mobile, Ala., to get her children and bring them back to Utah. Kesha will arrive there at 8:30 a.m. today. Her husband, Demetrice Ainsworth, 31, does underground cable work. He’s still looking for his mother. For both those reasons, Kesha’s not sure if Demetrice will come to Utah. He’s still needed in Biloxi.
For now, Kesha’s so happy that she’s at a loss. She wants to more than simply say “thank you” to all those who have offered their support. Yet, she doesn’t know what those words or actions are.
But she still could kill her cousin. “Why didn’t you tell me you had my kids?!?” she bellowed at Tomeka, after speaking with all of them.
“But I did,” Tomeka said. “I put them on the phone.”
mcronin@sltrib.com