Here's one Mississippian that Katrina didn't beat
But I feel like collapsing at the foot of my journal.
I'm just so tired. Between the storm, the lack of a/c, the lack of ice, the lack of light, the lack of internet, the lack of phone, the lack of clean water, the lack of running water, and the spending such a lot of time in so close a proximity to my entire family (i.e. my middle brother, his wife, and his four kids staying here for a few nights) I'm freakin' exhausted. Plus there's the fact that I woke up shortly after 7 this morning and it's now after midnight.
I feel like crying, but I don't know whether it's more for the people in New Orleans, for the people on the Coast, for the people I personally know who lost everything, for the people who were killed here in town over things as trivial as ice and generators, for the happiness I feel at things finally taking a step closer to normality, or for the happiness I feel toward all my friends who care so much about me.
I want to extend a huge thank you to every one of my friends (and any passers by) who prayed for me during the past week (or at least kept me in mind). Every one of you who expressed words of worry, words of hope for me... you will never know how touched I was when I read those words.
Emotions have been running high this week. We were without power when I woke up Monday morning and got it back early this afternoon. We lost running water early afternoon Monday and didn't get it back until mid- to late-afternoon on Wednesday or Thursday. I can't even remember which day it was anymore. Days have all run together. Phone use has been sporadic at best... both landlines and cellphones... all week. Oddly enough, we had better use of our phones during the storm than we did in the days following. Mail ran Friday and Saturday, but barely. If you can call a magazine, a couple pieces of junk mail, and a boil water notice mail. We had to drink luke warm (at best) water for half a week before we were able to get ice. We waged an indoor war with ants everyday, trying to defend our little bit of edible (ie, what didn't have to be thrown away when the freezer thawed) food from them. And, we've been having to pick up our lives and put them back together in one way or another.
And when I mentioned previously people getting killed over ice and generators, I wasn't exagerating. One of them went to our church. Over a bloody freakin' piece of machinery.
But for now, I'm just grateful to be alive, grateful to my friends for their thoughts and prayers, and eternally thankful that I was one of the lucky ones. I am safe and I am well.
To those of you that never commented or anything... I'm not judging any of you. Most of my friends live in Mississippi or elsewhere in the South and were directly affected by damned Katrina. I understand. But those of you who have barely even spared a second thought for this storm... well, you'll know my thoughts on that next time you hear from me. In my next post, I plan to give a full run down on what has been happening down here and (what I know, anyway) in New Orleans. And, in a rare display, I will for once show you that I do have opinions about some things.
But now I'm going to bed. In a real bed. With air conditioning. And a fan going. And I don't have to share the room with eight other people. Yes, life is good.
Footnote: Take nothing for granted. You never know when your world is going to shatter.
I'm just so tired. Between the storm, the lack of a/c, the lack of ice, the lack of light, the lack of internet, the lack of phone, the lack of clean water, the lack of running water, and the spending such a lot of time in so close a proximity to my entire family (i.e. my middle brother, his wife, and his four kids staying here for a few nights) I'm freakin' exhausted. Plus there's the fact that I woke up shortly after 7 this morning and it's now after midnight.
I feel like crying, but I don't know whether it's more for the people in New Orleans, for the people on the Coast, for the people I personally know who lost everything, for the people who were killed here in town over things as trivial as ice and generators, for the happiness I feel at things finally taking a step closer to normality, or for the happiness I feel toward all my friends who care so much about me.
I want to extend a huge thank you to every one of my friends (and any passers by) who prayed for me during the past week (or at least kept me in mind). Every one of you who expressed words of worry, words of hope for me... you will never know how touched I was when I read those words.
Emotions have been running high this week. We were without power when I woke up Monday morning and got it back early this afternoon. We lost running water early afternoon Monday and didn't get it back until mid- to late-afternoon on Wednesday or Thursday. I can't even remember which day it was anymore. Days have all run together. Phone use has been sporadic at best... both landlines and cellphones... all week. Oddly enough, we had better use of our phones during the storm than we did in the days following. Mail ran Friday and Saturday, but barely. If you can call a magazine, a couple pieces of junk mail, and a boil water notice mail. We had to drink luke warm (at best) water for half a week before we were able to get ice. We waged an indoor war with ants everyday, trying to defend our little bit of edible (ie, what didn't have to be thrown away when the freezer thawed) food from them. And, we've been having to pick up our lives and put them back together in one way or another.
And when I mentioned previously people getting killed over ice and generators, I wasn't exagerating. One of them went to our church. Over a bloody freakin' piece of machinery.
But for now, I'm just grateful to be alive, grateful to my friends for their thoughts and prayers, and eternally thankful that I was one of the lucky ones. I am safe and I am well.
To those of you that never commented or anything... I'm not judging any of you. Most of my friends live in Mississippi or elsewhere in the South and were directly affected by damned Katrina. I understand. But those of you who have barely even spared a second thought for this storm... well, you'll know my thoughts on that next time you hear from me. In my next post, I plan to give a full run down on what has been happening down here and (what I know, anyway) in New Orleans. And, in a rare display, I will for once show you that I do have opinions about some things.
But now I'm going to bed. In a real bed. With air conditioning. And a fan going. And I don't have to share the room with eight other people. Yes, life is good.
Footnote: Take nothing for granted. You never know when your world is going to shatter.